From the blackout of April 28 that affected the entire Iberian Peninsula, technical and political meetings have occurred to analyze what happened and seek solutions. Until now, the facts are still not clarified and there is no firm commitment, but the latter seems to change.
An Iberian call. Spain and Portugal have sent a petition to France to commit to concrete deadlines and binding actions to advance electrical interconnection corridors. In the letter signed by ministers Sara Aagesen and Maria Da Graça Carvalho, seeks to end a situation that qualify as a systemic vulnerability for European energy security, as EuropaPress has had access.
A very concrete problem. Although progress has been made in renewable energies, the Iberian Peninsula remains an “energy island”, with a level of interconnection of just 3%. The problem that has a Iberian Peninsula is the impossibility of sharing energy with Europe when it is left over or when it is missing. This weakens the resilience of the system, makes prices more expensive for reinforcement systems, and forces more polluting sources in moments of shortage.
A political gap. While one day after the incident, France claimed to be “better protected than Spain” against generalized blackouts, evidenced the clear distance in terms of shared responsibility according to EFE. At this point a structural problem of the European Union was evidenced, that is, attempts are made to boost projects with European framework for joint network, but national decisions are allowed that slow down or block strategic projects. The clearest example is that France has excluded from its 2025-2035 Electrical Development Plan two key projects for the Iberian Peninsula, the Aragón-Atlantic and Navarre-Las Landas interconnections, as both ministers have alleged in the letter and have collected Montelnews.
It is deeper. Spain has shown that it can reach 100% renewable generation peaks. In some moments, supply exceeds domestic demand. But when he can’t export that surplus in Storing it efficiently, becomes a problem. The most recent example: the negative prices of light, which reflect a saturated system that cannot take advantage of all the clean energy it produces.
This phenomenon not only represents a market distortion, but also a wasted opportunity. If there were sufficient interconnections, Spain could become a European energy hub, exporting clean energy to countries more dependent on gas or coal. I could also boost your rEindustrialization, attracting electrointensive industries thanks to cheaper and sustainable electricity. But without a truly integrated European network, the peninsula is trapped in a paradox: it produces a lot of clean energy that cannot use well.
The investigation is still ongoing. Not only in Spain and Portugal they are investigating the reasons, the European Network of Electricity Transmission Systems (ETSO-E) operators continues to investigate the blackout. His experts are analyzing what failed in the cross -border coordination and why the defense mechanisms did not avoid the cascade of the system. The conclusions of this report will be key to understanding what happened and strengthening the pressure on France and the EU to accelerate the interconnections.
Time is a valuable resource. Spain and Portugal not only demand energy justice, but European coherence. Interconnections cannot continue to be postponed promises. The blackout of April 28 was a warning, and the answer cannot be immobility. If the European Union wants a true union of energy, it must begin by ensuring that no Member State remains an energy island in 2025.
Image | Pxhere
WorldOfSoftware | A month after the blackout in Spain, we continue to drag the same problem that led us to him: electric networks
