Latest news with #voltage
Bloomberg
24-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Spain Regulator to Get More Powers to Oversee Electricity System
Spain's government will give the country's competition authority more powers to supervise private operators' management of electricity voltage following the nationwide blackout in April. Regulator CNMC will issue a report on compliance with the 'control obligations' after unprecedented peaks in voltage led to the blackout, the government said on Tuesday following a cabinet meeting. The report will be reviewed every three months.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Spain's grid operator blames power plants for blackout, disputes miscalculation
By Pietro Lombardi MADRID (Reuters) -Spanish grid operator Redeia blamed power plants for the massive blackout that affected the Iberian peninsula in April, as it disputed a government report that said its failure to calculate the correct energy mix was a key factor. While agreeing that a surge in voltage was the immediate cause of the outage, REE-owner Redeia blamed it on some conventional power plants - thermal power plants using coal, gas and nuclear - for failing to help maintain an appropriate voltage. "Based on our calculation, there were enough voltage control capabilities planned" by Redeia, operations chief Concha Sanchez told a news briefing on Wednesday. "Had conventional power plants done their job in controlling the voltage there would have been no blackout," she said. Redeia, which is partly state-owned, also discovered anomalies in the disconnection of power plants in the run-up to the April 28 outage, even though voltage in the system was within legal limits, Sanchez said. A combined-cycle plant that was supposed to provide stability to the system disconnected in the first seconds of the blackout when it should not have, while there was also an anomalous growth in demand from the transport network, she said. Aelec, which represents Spain's main electricity companies including Iberdrola and Endesa, said on Wednesday that "claiming everything was done correctly" while blaming some power plants for the blackout was damaging to the sector's reputation. "The operator failed to safely cover all the system's needs," the lobby added. Redeia on Wednesday released its own full report on the causes of the outage, a day after the Spanish government published its findings. The government's report released on Tuesday said Redeia's miscalculation was one of the factors hindering the grid's ability to cope with a surge in voltage that led to the outage that caused gridlock in cities across the Iberian peninsula and left tens of thousands stranded on trains overnight or stuck in lifts. But Sanchez said the system was in "absolutely normal conditions" at noon just before the blackout and that adding another gas plant to the system to absorb additional voltage would have made no difference. Redeia Chair Beatriz Corredor told the same news briefing she had absolute faith in the company's calculations and that the operator had complied with all procedures and rules. "Red Electrica didn't breach any procedure and has acted diligently," Chief Executive Roberto Garcia Merino said at the briefing, adding that as a result he did not expect the company to face any claims.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Spanish blackout linked to REE's incorrect energy mix calculations
The failure of Spanish grid operator REE to calculate an adequate energy mix and maintain voltage levels has been identified as the primary cause for the massive blackout that affected Spain and Portugal on 28 April 2025, as reported by Reuters. The findings were revealed in a government investigation released on Tuesday, 17 June. The comprehensive probe also identifies the failure of old power plants, including nuclear and gas-fired facilities, to maintain appropriate voltage control on the day of the blackout. REE's inability to absorb a sudden increase in voltage was highlighted by Spanish Energy Minister Sara Aagesen as the factor that triggered a cascade of generation disconnections. Aagesen told a news briefing in Madrid: 'The system did not have sufficient voltage control capabilities, either because they were not sufficiently programmed, or because those that were programmed did not adequately provide what was required by the standard, or a combination of both.' REE, which is partly state-owned, did not have enough thermal power stations switched on when the voltage surge caused a chain reaction leading to the power outage. Aagesen stated: 'REE told us that they made their calculations and estimated that (switching on more thermal plants) was not necessary at this time. They only set it for the early hours of the day, not the central hours." Voltage surges are typically caused by issues such as lightning strikes, equipment malfunctions or overall grid instability. The government investigation revealed that on the day of the outage, grid instability was detected before the problem had occured. Aagesen said: 'Power plants should have controlled voltage and many of them were economically remunerated to do so. They did not absorb all the reactive power that was expected.' Utilities lobby Aelec, representing major electricity suppliers such as Iberdrola and Endesa, concurred with the findings that pinpointed voltage control deficiencies. 'Despite having sufficient resources to guarantee voltage control, REE opted to manage voltage with limited synchronous capacity and an unbalanced geographical distribution, which left the system in a vulnerable situation,' Aelec stated. REE has not responded to requests for comments regarding the findings. The government announced its intention to propose measures aimed at enhancing the grid and improving its capacity to regulate voltage within the system. It also plans to advocate for further integration of the peninsula with the European grid. Aagesen had revealed in May that the blackout affecting Spain and Portugal was triggered by a sudden loss of power generation at the Granada substation. This initial failure was compounded by subsequent issues at the Badajoz and Seville substations. "Spanish blackout linked to REE's incorrect energy mix calculations" was originally created and published by Power Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Bloomberg
19-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Spanish Regulator Revises Rules for Power Grid Voltage Control
Spain's markets regulator approved a revision of rules aimed at keeping voltage on the country's power grid stable, many of which were 25 years old. The new rules adjust how voltage is controlled on the grid and will treat all types of generation sources in the same way, the regulator, known as CNMC, said in a statement Thursday.
Times
17-06-2025
- Business
- Times
Blame game in Spain over power cut that left nation in the dark
The Spanish government has blamed the 'poor planning' of the national grid operator and 'improper' actions by electricity companies for a power cut that paralysed the Iberian peninsula earlier this year. Releasing a report on the blackout, which took place six weeks ago, Sara Aagesen, the energy minister, finally discounted a cyberattack. She took aim at the grid operator REE, which is 20 per cent state owned, saying it had misjudged power capacity needs on April 28 when a surge in voltage caused a blackout across Spain and Portugal. 'The system did not have sufficient dynamic voltage control capacity,' Aagesen told a news briefing in Madrid. REE 'told us that they made their calculations and estimated that [switching on more thermal plants] was not necessary at this time. They only set it for the early hours of the day, not the central hours'.
