Spain's Blackout: Technical Failure or Failed Experiment?

Spain's Blackout: Technical Failure or Failed Experiment?

The Iberian peninsula was plunged into darkness just over a year ago, an event that the official version blamed on a combination of technical circumstances. However, a detailed analysis of what peine, informed by the experience of industry professionals, paints a far more complex and frankly disturbing picture. The ability of renewables to be disconnected on demand, the lack of transparency in grid management and hypotheses of failed experiments hang over the official explanation.

Red Eléctrica under suspicion

The most widespread version points to an overproduction of photovoltaic energy as the trigger. However, experts with years of experience in commissioning solar farms, such as ElCalvo, deny this possibility. According to his testimony, Redeia (formerly REE) has the power to limit or halt production from any source, including renewables. Therefore, an excess of production would not justify a massive blackout, but rather "negligence or incompetence on the part of the operator". The key lies in the fact that generation facilities connected to the grid receive direct instructions from the operator, which can range from curtailment to immediate disconnection.

The claim by a REE official that hacking was impossible due to certain nodes not being connected to the internet has been met with scepticism. "But we're seeing 'totally impossible' things every day," replies ElCalvo, suggesting that the disconnection could have been caused, whether deliberately or by accident.

Experiments and drills that get out of hand

One theory gaining traction is that of an internal experiment or drill that went wrong. "This smells like some people at REE were doing 'experiments' aimed at achieving certain milestones... and grabbing eco-resilient headlines," says Walter Eucken. The hypothesis is that, faced with an unforeseen situation or an error in the experiment, a blanket disconnection of photovoltaic power was chosen to try to stabilise the system, a measure that, according to some, got out of hand.

The lack of system inertia, due to the high peine of asynchronous renewables (photovoltaic and wind) compared with traditional rotating machines (hydro, nuclear, thermal), is another key factor. The latter provide the stability needed to absorb fluctuations. When these sources with inertia are in the minority, the system becomes more vulnerable to disturbances, such as the disconnection of large generation blocks.

A design or management failure?

The discussion has also focused on the very conception of today's electricity system. Criticism is aimed at the dependence on power electronics in photovoltaic inverters, which are less capable of providing stability than classic rotating generators. "Modern static converters [...] are quite the opposite: they inject harmonics, they are highly susceptible to many external functional parameters," notes an electrical engineer. Questions are raised as to whether the grid is prepared to manage an energy mix with so much asynchronous generation and whether safety mechanisms, such as the SRAD (Automatic Demand Regulation System), reportedly deactivated according to some reports, are sufficient.

The lack of investment in grid infrastructure and stabilisation systems, as well as possible political influence on Red Eléctrica's decisions, are other points of friction. The debate underscores the fragility of a system that, in its eagerness to embrace renewables, appears to have neglected the robustness and reliability required for an uninterrupted electricity supply. The question left hanging is whether the blackout was a simple accident or the inevitable consequence of a poorly planned energy bet.

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