Latest news with #DavidLatona
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Spain suffered multiple power incidents in the build up to full blackout
By David Latona, Emma Pinedo, Pietro Lombardi MADRID (Reuters) -Spain suffered several power glitches and industry officials sounded repeated warnings about the instability of its power grid in the build up to its catastrophic blackout on Monday. The government has ordered several investigations into the blackout. Industry experts say that whatever the cause, the mass outage and earlier smaller incidents indicate the Spanish power grid faces challenges amid the boom of renewables. A surplus of energy supply can disrupt power grids in the same way as a deficit, and grid operators must maintain balance. In the week before the blackout, Spain saw several power surges and cuts. A power cut disrupted railway signals and stranded at least 10 high-speed trains near Madrid on April 22. Transport Minister Oscar Puente said excessive voltage in the power network had triggered disconnections to protect substations. On the same day, Repsol's Cartagena refinery saw its operations disrupted by power supply problems. The grid suffered from significant instability in the days before the blackout, said Antonio Turiel, a senior researcher with the Spanish National Research Council. Spain's grid operator REE did not reply to a request for comment. Spain's energy ministry declined to comment. Spain has ordered inquiries involving government, security agencies and technical experts. A high court judge has launched a probe into whether a cyber attack was to blame. The Spanish power grid had been on a knife edge for several days due to power system imbalances, said Carlos Cagigal, an energy expert who advises private firms on renewable and industrial projects. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and power grid operator REE's chief Beatriz Corredor have both said record levels of renewable energy were not to blame for Monday's blackout. But REE and Europe's power grid lobby ENTSO-E had both previously warned that the rapid rise of power generation from renewables could destabilise the grid. Small renewable generators were putting extra pressure on the infrastructure, REE said in a 2024 report, and REE's parent company Redeia said in February the grid lacked information from smaller plants to be able to operate in real time. INCREASING RISK OF POWER CUTS The risk of power cuts is rising, Redeia warned because the closure of coal, gas-fired and nuclear plants reduces the grid's balancing capacities. "This could increase the risk of operational incidents that could affect supply and the company's reputation," the company said. Solar farms generate direct current (DC) power which doesn't have a frequency like alternating current (AC) power generated by conventional plants. DC power needs to be converted to AC in inverters to be transmitted via grids. If solar generation drops, the grid requires backstop AC power to prevent frequency dropping below dangerous levels after which most power contributors disconnect from the grid. "Shutting down the nuclear plants may put electricity supply at risk," REE's former chair Jordi Sevilla told Spanish news website Voxpopuli in January. Spain plans to shut down all seven nuclear reactors by 2035. The planned closure of two nuclear reactors at southwestern Spain's Almaraz plant, starting in 2027, will increase the risks of blackouts, European power lobby ENTSO-E said in April. REE responded to ENTSO-E by saying there was no risk of a blackout and it could guarantee stable energy supply. Less than a week later, Almaraz temporarily shut down the two units citing abundant wind energy supply as making operations uneconomic. One unit was still offline on Monday. The blackout across Spain and Portugal knocked out communications and transport systems, shut down industry and offices and brought commerce to a virtual standstill. The blackout could have shaved 1.6 billion euros ($1.82 billion), or 0.1%, off GDP, Spain's business lobby estimated.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China wants partnership with EU to counter US 'abuse', says envoy to Spain
By David Latona MADRID (Reuters) - China wants to deal with the European Union as a partner instead of a rival, its ambassador to Spain said, amid shifting geopolitics and Washington's new trade policy which he described as unilateral economic abuse. Yao Jing told Reuters the EU's 2019 strategy that defined China as its "partner for cooperation, economic competitor and systemic rival" made little sense as both championed open markets and rules-based trade. "We should put our focus on partnership. China will never be a threat or any kind of enemy to the EU," Yao said, praising the bloc's multilateral approach to foreign affairs, as opposed to President Donald Trump's isolationist agenda. Last week, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez met with President Xi Jinping in Beijing. The visit was widely seen as a bid to forge closer economic and political ties between China and Europe amid the fallout from Trump's tariffs. Just before Sanchez's trip, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that moving closer to the Asian country would be "cutting your own throat", a comment dismissed by Madrid. Yao said he was shocked by Bessent's remarks, adding that the U.S. "in fact cuts everyone's throats" with its unilateral tariffs. "And this is why China is firmly against this kind of economic abuse by the United States," he said. 'OPEN DOOR' Yao said Europe should drop its export controls on certain high-tech products, including semiconductors, as well as tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) and limitations for Chinese companies such as Huawei or ZTE to access Europe's 5G network. Beijing, in its turn, has been opening up sectors such as telecommunications, banking or manufacturing for foreign investment, he said. Yao said the EU's trade deficit with China, of around $345 billion last year, could not disappear overnight due to structural issues, but expected gradual progress. "We've made it very clear that China will open its door with the passage of time, and this door will never be closed. We're ready to open our market to other EU members, like we just did with Spain," he said. The two countries agreed on Friday to allow Chinese market access to Spanish pork stomach - a product widely consumed in China but not previously authorised. Some analysts saw it as a signal Beijing might ease its anti-dumping inquiry into EU pork, launched last year in retaliation for EU tariffs on Chinese EVs. Yao said the probe was ongoing but there was a willingness to address differences through negotiations.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Protesters rally across Spain against housing crisis, tourist flats
By Corina Pons, David Latona and Ana Cantero MADRID (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands marched across 40 Spanish cities on Saturday to protest against soaring rents and a lack of affordable homes in a country that enjoys Europe's fastest economic growth and yet suffers from a severe housing shortage exacerbated by a tourism boom. Spain's centre-left government has struggled to find a balance between attracting tourists and migrants to fill job gaps and keeping rents affordable for average citizens, as short-term rentals have mushroomed in major cities and coastal destinations alike. "No matter who governs, we must defend housing rights," activists shouted as they rattled keychains in Madrid, where more than 150,000 protesters marched through the capital's centre, according to the local tenants' union. Average Spanish rents have doubled and house prices swelled by 44% over the past decade, data from property website Idealista showed, far outpacing salary growth. Meanwhile, the supply of rentals has halved since the 2020 pandemic. "They're kicking all of us out to make tourist flats," said Margarita Aizpuru, a 65-year-old resident of the popular Lavapies neighbourhood. Nearly 100 families living in her block were told by the building's owners that their rental contracts would not be renewed, she said. Homeowners associations and experts say that current regulations discourage long-term rentals, and landlords find that renting to tourists or foreigners for days or a couple of months is more profitable and safer. Spain received a record 94 million tourists in 2024, making it the second most-visited country in the world, as well as an influx of thousands of migrants, both of which are widening a housing deficit of 500,000 homes, the Bank of Spain has said. According to official data, only about 120,000 new homes are built in Spain every year - a sixth of the levels before the 2008 financial crisis - worsening the already acute supply shortage. Wendy Davila, 26, said that the problem was not just in the city centre, since rents were too high "everywhere". "It cannot be that to live in Madrid you need to share a flat with four others."
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Orban, Le Pen hail Trump at far-right 'Patriots' summit in Madrid
By David Latona MADRID (Reuters) - Leaders of far-right parties in the European Parliament's third-largest voting bloc, Patriots for Europe, praised Donald Trump's return to power at a gathering in Madrid on Saturday held under the slogan "Make Europe Great Again". The event featured Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Italian deputy premier Matteo Salvini, as well as the leaders of France's National Rally (RN), Marine Le Pen, and the Netherlands' PVV party, Geert Wilders. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. "The Trump tornado has changed the world in just a few weeks ... yesterday we were heretics, today we're mainstream," Orban told around 2,000 supporters, most of whom waved Spanish flags. All the speakers railed against immigration and most called for a new "Reconquista", a reference to the Medieval re-conquest of Muslim-controlled parts of the Iberian Peninsula by Christian kingdoms. Earlier, former Estonian Finance Minister Martin Helme kicked off the rally following a video message by Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. His speech excoriating what he called "leftists" was interrupted by a topless activist from feminist group Femen chanting "Not one step back against fascism" in Spanish before she was ejected. Other themes included frequent right-wing targets such as "wokism" - a term used pejoratively by some to describe left-leaning political views on race, gender and sexuality - migrant rescue NGOs, European Commission's Ursula von der Leyen and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose names were met with loud jeers. Patriots was formed after the May 2024 European election and consists of 86 MEPs from 14 countries, representing a combined 19 million votes. Madrid was chosen as venue for their first official summit so that Patriots' president Santiago Abascal, who leads Spain's Vox party, could host. Spain's ruling Socialist Party said in a statement it rejected what it described as a "coven of ultras", adding: "They won't succeed in making their black-and-white world view prevail in this country". Vox has steadily gained ground in several polls over the past months. According to the Centre for Sociological Studies (CIS), it garners the strongest support among young men, members of the military and law enforcement. Despite Patriots' stated goal of unifying Europe's nationalist conservatives, some of the EU's most influential parties in that camp - such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy, Alternative for Germany and Poland's Law and Justice - have refused to join.
