š On April 28, 2025, Spain and Portugal experienced an almost nationwide blackout, affecting the entire Iberian Peninsula. The incident, triggered by an overvoltage in the Spanish transmission grid, led to a rapid loss of about 15 gigawatts of electricity in Spain, corresponding to around 60% of its supply.
Official investigations identified planning errors by the Spanish grid operator Red ElƩctrica (REE) and improper behavior by some power plant operators as significant contributing factors. These errors led to insufficient voltage regulation capacity and a failure of system defense plans.
Contrary to initial speculation, a cyber attack was clearly ruled out as a cause. Renewable energies were also not identified as the cause; instead, they played a role in the rapid restoration of system stability.
The incident highlights the urgent need for increased grid resilience and flexibility, especially in the context of the energy transition and the specific challenges of “peninsula systems” in the European power grid.
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