Spain's Red Eléctrica triggers full SRAD twice in 15 minutes

Spain's Red Eléctrica triggers full SRAD twice in 15 minutes

Spain's power system faced another reserve shortfall. Red Eléctrica ordered the activation of the Demand Response Service (SRAD) twice, just 15 minutes apart. This mechanism allows the system operator to request temporary consumption reductions from large industrial users to balance generation and demand. The first order withdrew 843 MW; the second surged to 1,775 MW. Uniquely, the operator activated all available capacity in the mechanism.

This is not a blackout. It is crucial to repeat this, as each news cycle brings catastrophic headlines. The SRAD is a balancing tool, providing rapid power when available reserves are insufficient. The real issue is that what started as a resource for exceptional situations has become a summer staple since mid-July.

Nine activations so far this year

The first use of the year occurred on January 28, during a cold wave with wind power plummeting: two consecutive activations withdrew around 1,725 MW. Then, silence until summer. On July 15, two consecutive activations. On July 22, another. Both cases involved deviations in wind generation forecasts and high demand.

August was the month of frequency. On the 11th, another industrial curtailment as solar power dropped at day's end: 943 MW and 1,412.6 MWh mobilized at an activation price of 210.91 euros/MWh, the highest recorded to date. Nine days later, the operator struck again: requesting 832 MW and ultimately mobilizing 613 MW.

On September 4, 1,631.6 MWh were managed for nearly two hours. Three factors converged: less wind than forecast, unavailability of thermal generation, and reduced exchanges with France due to interconnection congestion. On September 28, the final recorded episode, 943 MW were mobilized — 53% of the contracted capacity for the second half of the year — at 196.91 euros/MWh, the highest price for the mechanism to date.

Why activation prices are skyrocketing

The pattern repeats with increasing insistence, no longer coincidental: wind falls short of forecasts, solar drops in the evening, and reserves run dry. The operator then turns to industry, which is paid to stop. The activation prices recorded this year — 210.91 and 196.91 euros/MWh — mark the historical ceiling of the mechanism.

The comparison with recent history is chilling: four uses in all of 2024 and none in 2025. This year, nine activations, seven of them since mid-July. The exceptional resource has become a summer routine.

The background: less wind, higher demand, and a grid with unfinished homework

The underlying debate is not technical, but about the model. Some argue the system holds because the mechanism works and prevents worse outcomes; against this weighs the argument that a system needing to draw on industry every few weeks to avoid imbalance is not sized for the renewable generation it claims to have installed. Interconnection with France, congested, does not help.

Then there is the political reading. One part of the analysis suggests gas and nuclear plants are pushed to their limits before elections to avoid a blackout catastrophic for the Government, with corresponding increases in future electricity bills. Another school attributes it to demand growth and demographic pressure on infrastructure designed for fewer people. These are different frameworks for the same data: the system is stretched thin.

What could happen in autumn and winter

With wind as the critical variable and solar disappearing each afternoon, autumn and winter present themselves as the real test. Fog, lack of wind, and winter demand tighten simultaneously. If the SRAD is already activated in September, the question is not whether it will return, but how frequently and at what price.

The prediction, with all due caution: the mechanism will continue breaking usage records until the generation mix, interconnection, and demand change. The day coordination fails, no industrial curtailment will fix it.