Latest news with #BeatrizCorredor
NDTV
7 days ago
- Politics
- NDTV
Spain Denies Power Grid "Experiment" Caused Massive Blackout
Madrid: Spain's government on Wednesday denied a press report that an "experiment" on the national power grid caused a huge blackout that crippled the Iberian Peninsula one month ago. Authorities have been scrambling to find answers after the April 28 outage cut telecommunications, halted transport and plunged cities into darkness across Spain and Portugal. Conservative British daily newspaper The Telegraph reported Friday, citing unnamed sources in Brussels, that Spanish authorities "were conducting an experiment before the system crashed, probing how far they could push reliance on renewables in preparation for Spain's rushed phase-out of nuclear reactors from 2027". "The government seems to have pushed the pace recklessly, before making the necessary investments in a sophisticated 21st-century smart grid capable of handling it," it added. Asked about the report in parliament, Ecological Transition Minister Sara Aagesen said: "It is false, totally false, that the government carried out any sort of experiment on the grid prior to the outage." "It is irresponsible to assign blame while the cause of the blackout remains under investigation. And it is equally irresponsible to claim that the government was conducting experiments," she added. The head of Spain's electricity operator REE, Beatriz Corredor, also called the report "completely false" in an interview with Spanish daily newspaper La Vanguardia published on Wednesday. "There was no excess of renewable energy" on April 28, nor short circuits, overloads or cyberattacks on the grid, she said, dismissing several widely circulated theories. Instead she said it appears that producers of "conventional" energy such as gas, nuclear and hydro plants "failed to properly regulate voltage" on the day of the outage. She did not say if this played a direct role in the blackout.
Time of India
7 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Spain denies power grid 'experiment' caused giant blackout
Spain denies power grid 'experiment' caused giant blackout (Photo: AP) Spain's government on Wednesday denied a press report that an "experiment" on the national power grid caused a huge blackout that crippled the Iberian Peninsula one month ago. Authorities have been scrambling to find answers after the April 28 outage cut telecommunications, halted transport and plunged cities into darkness across Spain and Portugal. Conservative British daily newspaper The Telegraph reported Friday, citing unnamed sources in Brussels, that Spanish authorities "were conducting an experiment before the system crashed, probing how far they could push reliance on renewables in preparation for Spain's rushed phase-out of nuclear reactors from 2027". "The government seems to have pushed the pace recklessly, before making the necessary investments in a sophisticated 21st-century smart grid capable of handling it," it added. Asked about the report in parliament, Ecological transition minister Sara Aagesen said: "It is false, totally false, that the government carried out any sort of experiment on the grid prior to the outage." "It is irresponsible to assign blame while the cause of the blackout remains under investigation. And it is equally irresponsible to claim that the government was conducting experiments," she added. The head of Spain's electricity operator REE, Beatriz Corredor, also called the report "completely false" in an interview with Spanish daily newspaper La Vanguardia published on Wednesday. "There was no excess of renewable energy" on April 28, nor short circuits, overloads or cyberattacks on the grid, she said, dismissing several widely circulated theories. Instead she said it appears that producers of "conventional" energy such as gas, nuclear and hydro plants "failed to properly regulate voltage" on the day of the outage. She did not say if this played a direct role in the blackout.
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Business Standard
20-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Spain hit by nationwide mobile network blackout weeks after power crisis
Spain was plunged into fresh chaos early Tuesday morning (local time) after a major mobile network outage left millions without phone or internet access, just weeks after the country experienced a widespread power blackout. The mobile blackout affected all major telecom providers including Movistar, Orange, Vodafone, Digimobil and O2. European media reported that the issue originated around 2 am and only got worse by 5 am, disrupting services in cities across the country such as Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia, Bilbao, and Malaga. Users reported complete loss of signal, inability to make calls, receive texts, or use mobile data. The outage also disrupted access to the EU-wide emergency number 112 in several regions, including Aragón, Extremadura, the Basque Country and the Valencia community, prompting authorities to issue alternative contact numbers. Some services were gradually restored later in the morning. Network upgrade at Telefonica blamed for outage Spanish media attributed the failure to a major technical fault during a network upgrade by Telefonica, the country's second-largest company and key operator for most of Spain's mobile infrastructure. Landline services were particularly hard hit, though all voice-related services experienced disruptions to varying degrees. A Telefonica spokesperson acknowledged the problem, telling UK daily, The Independent,"We have carried out some network upgrades that have affected specific services at some companies. We are working to resolve this." Additionally, the Ministry for Digital Transformation said it is monitoring the situation and seeking further details. 2025 Iberian Peninsula Blackout This is the second major infrastructure failure in Spain in less than a month. On April 28, a nationwide power outage, dubbed the 2025 Iberian Peninsula Blackout, left Spain and parts of Portugal without electricity for nearly 10 hours, severely affecting transport systems, payment terminals, and public safety infrastructure. Although cyberattack theories initially surfaced, authorities later ruled them out. The blackout occurred as Spain's energy mix leaned heavily on renewables, with solar and wind accounting for over 60 per cent of electricity production just before the crash, prompting critics, especially opposition parties and some external observers, to question the stability of the region's push toward net-zero targets, according to a report by CNBC. However, both Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Red Eléctrica de España (REE), the national grid operator, firmly denied that renewable energy sources were to blame. REE president Beatriz Corredor told Cadena SER radio that current renewable technologies are stable and equipped with systems ensuring safe, conventional operation. As power gradually returned and life resumed across the region, the incident sparked debate over the resilience of green energy infrastructure.
New York Post
30-04-2025
- Climate
- New York Post
Devastating blackout in Spain raises questions about reliance on solar power, wind power
Monday's devastating blackout in Spain is raising questions about the country's massive reliance on solar and wind power for electricity — and whether the new power sources may have played a role. Spain's socialist government has faced increasing pressure to explain what went wrong on Monday, when widespread power cuts saw railways, airports, and major sporting events grind to a halt across the country, as well as Portugal and part of France. However, the government has been quick to claim renewable power is not to blame — despite not yet having a full explanation of exactly what went wrong. Renewable energy accounted for almost two-thirds of Spain's electricity production just before the system crashed this week, according to data from the country's partially state-owned grid operator REE. The source of Monday's blackouts has been narrowed down to two separate incidents in southwestern Spain where two substations experienced a loss of generation, according to REE, which is headed by socialist ex-lawmaker Beatriz Corredor. 6 More than half of Spain's electricity was coming from solar power at the time of the blackouts. REUTERS One key factor that experts have pointed to is that traditional gas and nuclear power plants have spinning turbines to generate electricity. Those turbines have inertia — meaning they're able to keep up their momentum even when they're not being powered — and store certain amounts of energy to help regulate the power grid. With solar power, there is no such backup inherent in the design, thus, power grids must resort to using batteries and other methods to store energy. When solar plants go offline, output ceases immediately. The lack of inertia means that 'imbalances must be corrected more quickly,' David Bayshaw, professor of climate science and energy meteorology at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, told the Wall Street Journal. 6 All of Spain and Portugal were left without power for much of Monday. AFP via Getty Images 6 Authorities in Spain have denied that over-reliance on solar power was to blame for Monday's blackouts. AFP via Getty Images 'Outage events, when they occur, are likely to become more significant and widespread.' Experts have previously warned that Europe's increasing reliance on renewable energy — which fluctuates with the weather — could lead to blackouts and other supply issues. A sudden drop of energy output to zero is the biggest risk faced by renewables, experts say. Spanish officials have launched an investigation and the government is seeking answers from private energy companies that feed into the grid, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told reporters on Wednesday. He also didn't rule out a cyber attack for being behind the blackouts, something which has been dismissed by REE. 6 Tens of thousands were left stranded after trains stopped working. AFP via Getty Images A 'rare atmospheric phenomenon' was blamed for causing Monday's unprecedented blackouts, according to REN, Portugal's grid operator. But no 'unusual meteorological or atmospheric phenomena' or temperature fluctuations were recorded at weather stations at the time of the blackouts, Spain's meteorological agency AEMET said on Tuesday. 6 Major sporting events such as the Madrid Open tennis tournament were suddenly plunged into darkness. AP Just before the system crashed, Spain was getting 53% of its electricity from solar energy, 11% from wind, and 15% from nuclear and gas, according to REE. Spain is planning to shut down all of its nuclear power plants once it believes wind and solar can replace them. Corredor, the utility honcho, has spoken out to deny that Spain's reliance on renewable energy was to blame. 6 No official cause for the blackouts has been determined. AFP via Getty Images 'These technologies are already stable and they have systems that allow them to operate as a conventional generation system without any safety issues,' she told radio station Cadena SER. She also insisted that she was not considering resigning. The costs of Monday's blackout across Spain and Portugal are expected to range between a staggering $2.5 billion and $5 billion, reported Reuters, citing investment bank RBC. Some 35,000 stranded passengers had to be rescued from railways and underground tunnels, Spanish emergency workers said.
