We have just lived the first great blackout of the renewable era. The debate is now how to get the last one

The debate in public opinion is served for the coming weeks, at least Until the conclave arrivesat which time it will be limited to the specialized circles of the energy sector. Bloomberg analyst Javier Blas, He has baptized What happened in Spain and Portugal as “the great green blackout of the era of renewable energy.” Although the authorities have not yet offered a definitive version, the debate has intensified.

Until now. The official version is still preliminary, but Red Eléctrica de España has offered a technical reconstruction of what happened. According to the latest information, the fall was not the product of a cyber attack or sabotage, but of the failure chain of several systems in a context of high renewable penetration. In a matter of seconds, about 15 gigawatts were disconnected, approximately 60% of the consumption of electric demand, due to a sharp drop in voltage, known as “voltage hole.” This type of active fall automatic protection systems that disconnect power plants and substations to avoid greater damage.

According to Financial Timesthe lack of inertia – the capacity of certain infrastructure such as turbines to stabilize the network— He worsened the problem. And since Portugal partially depends on the Spanish supply, the blackout immediately extended to the entire neighboring country. Despite this, Beatriz Corredor, president of Red Electrica, He has warned that “it is not correct to relate the incident to the penetration of renewables”, defending that these technologies work stable and that the Spanish electrical system is resilient. He also pointed out that millions of data are being analyzed to clarify the exact causes of the blackout and reinforce the response protocols.

Debate is reopened. A few weeks ago, the discussion in the energy sector revolved around Scheduled closure of the nuclear centrals planned for two years. However, the blackout has catalyzed a more visible ideological shock: renewable vs. nuclear. Such as has detailed eldiario.es, what happened has fed tensions among those who defend the energy transition against those who want to keep nuclear as stable support. In that same article, Jorge Sanz, the former president of the Commission for Energy Transition, has declared that one of the factors was the massive disconnection of renewables before a voltage hole. However, like has pointed out Renewable expert Xavier Cugat in his networks, Sanz has omitted a relevant fact: The existence of the Srap (Automatic protection response system), already operational and with several real and solar wind capacity gigawatts. A crucial tool that, although it did not avoid the blackout, is part of the effort to improve the technical response of renewables in these situations.

But there is an unstoppable reality. According to Irenain 2024 92.5% of the new electrical power installed worldwide was renewable. That is, twelve times more renewable than nuclear, gas and coal together were installed. Clean energies are already the norm: they are cheaper, safe and in many countries, almost the only option that is being expanded. There are already concrete examples: countries like Paraguay, Iceland or Norway They work with 100% of renewable generation. The address is clear; What is at stake is how to manage this transformation without compromising system stability.

What is the way? As has explained for RNE The head of the Rey Juan Carlos University, Eloy Sanz, which the Iberian Peninsula is an “energy island” with Very little international connection. Spain and Portugal need an integration much stronger With the rest of Europe to share surpluses, balance demand and strengthen system safety. To this is added the need to continue investing in storage, such as batteries, Reversible pumping plants either Green hydrogen. Finally, the development of technologies such as Synthetic inertiaalready deployed in countries such as Denmark, which simulate the stabilizing effect of old thermal plants or other strategy such as Synchronous Power Controlwhich allow renewables to also contribute to the stability of the network without the need for batteries or physical inertia flyers.

Ignoring this has a price. As He has summarized Javier Blas in his column with crudeness: “The design of the network, the policies and risk analysis are not yet up to the management of an excess of renewables.” It is not an attack on clean energy, but a call of attention. The error would be to abandon renewables by a blackout, nor were fossil fuels left after Blackout New York in 1977. But we must learn. The future of energy will be renewable, but it cannot be naive or ideological.

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