electricity

A Spaniard has patented a mast that transforms wind and waves into electricity. His invention challenges diesel in ships

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A mast shaken by the wind, the waves pushing without rest: usual scenes in any maritime journey. The interesting thing is that the same movement can serve to generate electricity. A canary who is one step away from being an engineer has designed a system that converts the strength of the ocean into usable energy, with the ambition to reduce the dependence of the diesel in the ships. It is an idea that takes the everyday of the sea and makes it a concrete technical proposal, simple enough to intrigue and ambitious enough to demand validation in the sea. “In the end it is a three -dimensional generator,” Juan Francisco Sarmiento Medina said in an advance of the Podcast of the Stier Groupand described the mechanism with simple images: “Let’s imagine that my arm is the mast. When the wind comes in front, it clashes, as the mast of a flag, and begins to oscillate. The keel works as a piston of a combustion engine (…) then movement occurs in the x, y y y z axes, all under Faraday’s law,” he explained. That narration of the inventor itself forms the technical spine of the project. What exactly is the e-mast. In its LinkedIn account the project appears as E-MAST (Energy Mast System) and is presented as a technology that transforms the structural vibration of the mast into clean electrical energy. According to the textthe system integrates an encapsulated rotor without exposed parts, linear generators and piezoelectric elements to convert oscillations into electricity, and can direct part of the induced air under the keel in the form of microburbujas. The advantages of the inventor are clear: “Without diesel engines, or maintenance. The owner of the boat, as there are no mechanical parts that have to be maintained with oil or that are broken, also reduces costs in that sense,” He pointed to El Español. The inventor also underlines the operational silence due to the absence of external propellers and the total structural integration into existing masts. These benefits, in any case, will require trials to measure power, autonomy and acoustic signature. Of production patent. The applications of applications published by the author encompasses autonomous marine surveillance, oceanographic research, defense and ecological navigation platforms in protected areas. According to Sarmiento Medina, the e-mast is protected by two patents, ES202430338 and ES202430339, with a favorable report according to the promoter. According to the newspaper La Provinciathe promoter figure around half a million euros international protection and development and has conversations with shipyards in France and the Netherlands to explore production. The sea still has the last word. Sarmiento says that he is a neighbor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and recognizes that part of his learning and opportunities come from the Stier Group, which has supported his training. This local support, added to the intellectual protection that it declares in its public profile, has allowed to convert a daily element of any ship at the base of an ambitious technological proposal. Now the most difficult part remains: validate the system in the sea. But the idea has already demonstrated something important: that there is still margin to imagine new things, even in an environment as old as navigation. Images | Juan Francisco Sarmiento Medina In Xataka | A “Roomba” to clean rivers: the ship that the three throats has launched in China

How much electricity produces each country with renewable energy, exposed in a graphic

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Europe has been Up on the Renewable Train. This summer they have SOLAR ENERGY PRODUCTION REGRESSESwe are installing new huge wind turbines And, although with contradictions such as import energy from Africait is evident that the continent carries a Cruise speed in renewables. However, that train goes to two speeds, with countries in which renewables are hardly nothing in their electricity generation. And it is something that we can perfectly appreciate on this map elaborated by Visual Capitalist. Vanguard. With Eurostat data until December 2024, we can see that The transition to renewables He goes with the wind in favor. The generation of energy from wind, solar, hydroelectric, the Geothermal and the biofuels They already represent values ​​that exceed 99% of the net electricity generation of some countries. In general, it is estimated that, as of December 2024, the European Union obtained almost 42% of its net electricity from the renewable sources, being wind and hydroelectric plant the fundamental legs of this change. Interestingly, despite all Advances in panel technology and wind turbines, the countries in which renewables are more important have as the protagonist the hydroelectric. This is the case of Albania, which leads the list by generating more than 99% of its electricity from renewables, or Norway. In the case of Denmark, a country that occupies third place, it is the wind that marks the guideline. To the tail… When we said that the train goes to two speeds, we refer to cases such as the Czech Republic, Moldova and Malta. In some areas of Central and Eastern Europe, the fossil fuels are still crucialand the three countries mentioned are the least proportion of renewables in their electricity generation. As a red lantern, we have Kosovo with just 8.8% of its energy from renewables. The sources. Something interesting is to know which are those renewables that are pushing clean energy in Europe. In Spain, for example, We throw ourselves into the arms of the plotbut the energy mix that has contributed to these numbers, depends a lot on each country, and in the European photo, the plot is in third place. According to Eurostat, wind energy meant 39.1% of the renewable energy produced in 2024, followed by 29.9% of the hydroelectric and 22.4% of the solar. The biofuel is far, with 8.1%, and the geothermal energy is marginal, contributing only 0.5%. Situation in 2024 A devastating advance. And beyond distinguishing in countries, if we look at the global situation, we see that more than 40% of the net energy produced by the EU in 2024 comes from renewables. According to Eurostat, 47.3% of electric production, which translates into 1.31 million GW/Hy an increase of 7.7% compared to 2023. Evolution of energy production during the last 35 years In that same graph We can see that fossil fuels have fallen by 7.2% compared to the previous year (almost the same as renewables) and nuclear, despite the plans of some countries, grew by 4.8%. We will see what course this has in 2026, since a Eurobarometer survey carried out in June 2025 Indian Strong support from EU citizens to the adoption of renewables, but we will have to see if that renewable deployment is compatible with another that is being performing ambitious and You need huge amounts of energy: the one Data centers. Images | Eurostat In Xataka | Something is happening with wind energy. Its deployment has stopped while solar energy grows unstoppable

Google has finally revealed how much electricity and water consumes its AI. Estimates could not be more wrong

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We knew that generative artificial intelligence was a monster that was forcing companies to make large investments in energybut Google’s first detailed analysis has put the figures for the first time on the table. We go to the point. According to him Google Technical Reportbased on data from May 2025, an average text consultation to Gemini consumes 0.24 Electricity watts. To put it in context, it is something like watching nine seconds of television with a conventional TV of 100 W. Water consumption, which is still necessary to refrigerate serversis 0.26 milliliters per consultation; The equivalent of five drops of water. The carbon footprint of the entire inference process, according to the report, is 0.03 grams of equivalent. Wrong estimates. Just a year ago, third party analysis They estimated that a single consultation of AI in the Google search engine, such as those of AI overViews, could consume about 3 Wh, ten times more than a traditional search. This led to calculations as striking as the deployment of AI in the search engine would consume enough energy to load seven electric cars per second. With Google’s official data in hand, we see that this estimate was wrong by a 12.5 factor. The new software techniques (such as speculative decoding) and the most efficient models architectures (such as the Mixture-OF-Experts paradigm) have completely changed the panorama. Inference, no training. These figures, the most concrete published to date by the company, only take into account Gemini’s consumption by inferring user response. The expensive process of training the great language models that feed these tools remains a mystery, but Google is justified by saying that the massive adoption of generative AI, integrated even in its search engine, has put the focus on inference. In this direct relationship with the user it is also where greater efficiency jumps are getting large technological companies. Google says that, in the last 12 months, energy consumption has divided by 33 and by 44 the carbon footprint of each consultation to Gemini. Much of this jump has to do, not only with more efficient models, but with the improvement of AI accelerators (Tpus and Gpus), a hardware that Google develops internally. The amount of “prompts” per kWh that process the different models of AI Less than Netflix. Google is not alone in this new era of transparency. Sam Altman, CEO of Openai, also shed some light on the consumption of chatgpt. In one June 2025 publicationAltman said that an average consultation to ChatgPT consumes approximately 0.34 or energy Wh and about 0.3 ml of water. The energy figure is slightly higher than Gemini’s, although it is a difficult comparison. Altman did not give details of his methodology, so we do not know if his calculation includes all the factors that Google has considered (such as electrical consumption in refrigeration and in “idle” machines; that is, inactive, but ready for rapid consumption peaks). Both companies have been compared to television: “An hour of Netflix consumes 100 times more electricity than Chatgpt,” says an official OpenAI slide. The same that says that the total impact of AI on US carbon emissions would be around 0.5%. Images | Google In Xataka | The consumption of AI is overestimated and we must worry more about the air conditioning, according to the IAE

25 million for a reddish rock without electricity or water

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It is not the most expensive or the most remote, nor does it stand out for its size, but Red Rock Isand It has been a time of the most peculiar “candy” in the American luxury market for some time. The reason: a sum of factors among which are their price, their characteristics and especially its location, in the middle of San Francisco, where it stands out as The only one Private Island His is a privileged location, but who is willing to spend the 25 million dollars that it costs will find a reddish rock (hence its name) without water or light, populated by birds and in an convoluted administrative situation. Things of the most select luxury market. In a place on the west coast … More specifically in the Bay of San Francisco, very close to the busy Richmond-San Rafael Bridgethrough which almost almost 13 million vehiclesis a small island baptized as Red Rock Island. The name is no coincidence, it takes it from the manganese concentration, mineral that for a while attracted the interest of the miners. If Red Rock Island stands out for something, it is nevertheless for its tone, or location, but for its administrative condition: it is The only one Island of private property of San Francisco’s bay and stands between three counties different (San Francisco, Marin and against Costa), with which any procedure related to its lands must take into account the regulations of those three administrations. A reddish rock in the Pacific. Red Rock awakens the curiosity of the drivers who circulate on the Richmond-San Rafael bridge because it rises as a reddish, steep and soulless promontory in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. After all, the islet It is uninhabited. His only tenants They are the seagulls, the Canadian geese, bats and the occasional rabbit that raises among their reddish rocks, bushes and excavated tunnels decades ago by the miners. Red Rock Isand measures approximately 5.8 acres, about 2.3 hectares. Its dimensions are discreet for an island, although not far from there are islets like The Brothers and The Sisters Even smaller. It is estimated that Red Rock measures 150 meters wide, 230 long and 54 high. Chris Lim, Christie’s International Real Estate, in charge of The management of your sale, stands out However, the insula is located in the deepest part of the bay and its coast is “perfect” to arrive aboard a yacht or with a helicopter. Perhaps they are not the most economical means of transport or the most accessible; But it is that Red Rock Island has not been put up for sale in a suitable market for any pocket. Are you left over 25 million? If so, congratulations, you can have your own private island in a privileged place on the west coast of the US. That is the price for which went on sale Red Rock Island last year, a sum that, as remember The Guardianplaces it in the “mid -range” of the private island market, well above the between 600,000 and several million dollars that can cost a small island in the Bahamas, but below the more than 100 million that are paid for some specially coveted insulants of the Caribbean. Click on the image to go to Tweet. 25 million .. and something else. Of course, if the Red Rock buyer has in mind to build in the islet must have that those initial 25 million will be added another amount, equal or even more generous, to move materials, personnel and supplies. Red Rock lacks electricity and running water. And any future plan must take into account that it is between three counties. For lim The island is nevertheless more than a simple islet with potential. In his opinion it is a kind of “collectible” luxury, just like there are those who choose to hang a Mark Rothko of your living room or bid for one of the very expensive pieces of da Vinci that come to auction. “Unique and prestigious investment”. Thus the island is announced in The portal of Crhistie´s International Real Estate, where the offer is still active 213 days after its publication. “This extraordinary island offers unparalleled natural beauty, historical importance and an infinite potential for the demanding buyer who seeks a unique and prestigious investment,” The agency emphasizes. Whether or not a “cholo”, the truth is that Red Rock Island seems to have attracted market interest. In Julio Lim assured to the CBS News chain that the seller had already received two offers and there was at least one “active”, on the table, in which they were working. What is your current state? This same The Guardian He informed That at the end of July a contract was signed with a buyer who, at least for the moment, has asked for anonymity. The operation would not have yet been completed. “It will be a long process and the closing of the deposit will not be carried out until next year”, explained Recently the agency spokesman The Real Deal. In any case, the announcement is still active in the catalog From Christie´s International Real Estate, where it is also allowed to request information from adults or schedule a visit to the island. Something more than luxury and nature. Red Rock Island is not just a reddish islet in the middle of Francisco’s bay populated with shrubs, seagulls, bats, geese and the occasional rabbit that hides between its pines. The island has an interesting story behind. It is said that he served as a home to merchants of Russian skins, who around 1850 lived in it the commander and businessman Selim E. Woodworththat in the nineteenth century worked in it miners interested in manganese oxide and in 1964 it was acquired by David Clickman for a sum today: $ 49,500. In The 80s He was about to go to the controversial guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh And there are those who saw in its size and location a reef … Read more

Now there are giant comets generating electricity from heaven

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The West Coast of Ireland, as green as steep by the wind, has become the test bench of A novel idea: Replace wind turbines with giant comets. Generate electricity from the sky. Willing to find a Alternative to terrestrial wind turbinesResearchers at the University of Delft chose May County, in Ireland, to test a system called Kitepower. Instead of wind turbines, Kitepower generates electricity by 60 square meter comets that rise to 425 meters from the ground. Why Ireland. To put the invention to the limit. “The wind conditions on the west coast of Ireland allow us to exceed the limits of our system, to make it more robust and reliable,” Andrei Luca explained to RTEChief of Operations of Kitepower. “If it has worked in Ireland, it will probably work around the world.” This is how the May County, to the west of the country, has become the first air -transported energy test site in the world, which those responsible for Kitepower describe as a potential “change of play” in the sector. How it works. With an ingenious “Yoy effect”. The kite, subject to a cable rolled in a drum, ascends by drawing an eight in the sky for 45 seconds. This flight pattern, inspired by a kitesurf candle, maximizes wind traction, generating a force between 2.5 and 4 tons. This force rotates the drum, which in turn is connected to a generator on land, producing electricity that is stored in a battery system. Once the 45 seconds have elapsed, the kite is leveled to minimize wind resistance, which allows the cable to be collected using only a fraction of the energy generated. The cycle is repeated again and again, generating a net renewable energy gain. The system, which combines the KITESURF movements with a GPS guidance system, is capable of producing up to 30 kilowatts of electricity per hour for each kite. What improves wind turbines. According to Kitepower, his comets are twice as efficient that wind turbines when capturing wind energy, because they take advantage The winds of great altitudeinaccessible for conventional wind turbines. But the truly interesting thing is that the whole system fits in a six -meter container, which makes it a portable system that can be deployed anywhere accessible by a truck, without the need for heavy foundations or towers. Islands and remote places. After the tests in Ireland, Kitepower has launched A pilot project in the Netherlands with the construction company Dur Vermeer, where the system is being used to load excavators and electric trucks in an infrastructure project. The objective of the company is to bring technology to remote communities and the islands of the European Union, many of which depend on the importation of diesel, with the cost that that entails. The comets deployed in Ireland have shown that airborne wind energy could be a cheap, clean and renewable alternative. Image | Kitepower In Xataka | A comet for large ships: This is how this company projects to save 20% fuel and emissions on your trips

will pause its AI during heat waves to relieve the electricity grid

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Google has announced A pioneering agreement with two of the main electrical companies in the United States to reduce the consumption of their data centers during energy demand peaks. In other words, Google will pause its artificial intelligence during heat waves. AI is hungry. It is no secret that generative artificial intelligence has a voracious energy appetite. Train and execute the huge models that drive from the summaries in the Google search engine to the youtube folded videos requires dozens or hundreds of megawatts of power continuously. This massive consumption, concentrated in huge data centers, has become a growing concern for electricity companies, which see how energy demand triggers at a rate that the current infrastructure is not prepared to support. An unthinkable movement. Until now, the main concern was to add enough power to the network, with solutions that go From reopening abandoned nuclear centers until Sign the largest hydroelectric agreement in history. But Google’s last movement proposes an unthinkable solution in the competitive AI industry: instead of just increasing energy supply, managing demand flexibly. The measure, agreed with two of the main electrical companies in the United States (TVA and I & M.), arrives just when both states prepare for an intense heat wave. While millions of homes and companies light their air conditioners, putting the electricity to the limitGoogle has agreed to reduce the consumption of its less urgent tasks to avoid overloads and possible blackouts. Demand flexibility. Google has not invented anything new. This type of Flexible response to network demand It already applies in many industries, usually to pay a lower price for the light. Google itself has used it for a long time to postpone non -essential tasks, such as the processing of YouTube videos, moving them to data centers in other time regions or executing them at night, when the demand for the network is lower. The novelty is that, for the first time, it will apply contractual to automatic learning workloads, the heart of the AI. According to the agreement, if the demand for energy increases dangerously or there is an interruption in the network due to extreme weather conditions, operators can ask Google to reduce their consumption. Google will respond by reprogramming or limiting non -urgent tasks until the network stabilizes. You won’t run out of Google Maps. The company has made it clear that this demand response system has its limits. Critical services that require 100% reliability and constant availability, such as the search engine, Google Maps or cloud services for clients of essential sectors such as health, will not be affected. Flexibility will apply to tasks such as the training of new AI models thanks to advances in techniques such as Checkpointing (which allows you to save the progress of training and resume it later). A model could be trained exclusively at night, when the network capacity is greater, without losing the work already done. What does Google win with this? In addition to relieving the overload of the network and preventing off, the clients of the network will end up reducing the light of the light thanks to this system. Including Google data centers. Image | Pawel Czerwinski in Unspash In Xataka | The AI has disrupted Google’s plans to be sustainable. His plan to remedy it: the “four m”

The renewables were supposed to lower the electricity bill in Spain. At the moment it continues to go up

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Before the blackout of April 28, the numbers in the production of solar energy reached amazing levels: Spain was 100% renewable. After the situation, Spain shines again exceeding 10,500 GWh of generation in July with solar and wind energy. However, not everything is good news because an energy paradox appears to solve: why has electricity not been cheaper? A green record that does not show in the pocket. According to provisional Red Electricity data (REE) published by the energy analyst Pedro Catuelin July more than 10,500 GWH per month were reached combining solar and wind generation. The graph disseminated by Catuel in its social networks makes it clear: Spain is producing more clean energy than ever. But while the sun shines and the wind blows, the cost of electricity rises again. In mid -July, the average price of light stood at € 164.06/MWh, According to Ree figures collected in Xataka. Getting down to € 102.85/MWh the day after that figure, but only for an hour was really affordable. And there is the paradox: with more renewable than ever, The price should lowerbut it doesn’t. If there are more renewable, why do we pay more? The answer is technical, structural and political at the same time. As we have already explained in Xatakaduring the noon – when the solar generation is maximum – there is a surplus of energy and the price collapses. However, when the sun falls and there is still demand, the system needs firm support. And that support today does not give the renewables: gas enters. And with him, the bill was the one who shot the price. To this time dependence is added another problem: the lack of storage. A good part of the renewable energy generated cannot be saved or transferred efficiently and ends up losing. Electric Red has confirmed that in some points of the network up to 30 % of the renewable generation due to infrastructure saturation has been wasted. And as if this were not enough, since January it has re -applied the complete VAT of 21 % to electricity, after years of reduced by the energy crisis. This, added to the increase in natural gas in international markets, has further increased the invoice, As the Nordy marketer has alerted in his analysis of the rise in light in 2025. There is a turn of events. It is true that VAT has risen and there is an obvious lack of storage. However, since July 15, Spain It has been three weeks without generating electricity from coal. It is the first time that happens in more than 140 years, where this source was also functioning as a support element. According to The Energy newspaper has detailedthe latest thermal plants – Boño, Soto de Ribera and Los Barrios, all of EDP – have been out of operation. Only Alcudia (in the Balearic Islands), as a timely reserve. Generation structure with/without CO2 eq emissions. (GWh) | Source: Red Electrica España So will prices go down? The intention is, but the execution encounters politics. Royal Decree-Law 7/2025, which collected key measures to avoid future blackouts and reinforce the network, was rejected in Congress On July 22, with 183 votes against. The standard included self -consumption incentives, more control over electricity and an impulse to energy storage. Without that legal framework, the Spanish electrical system remains vulnerable and rigid. There is a clear saturation: only 1 in 10 new facilities manages to access the network, although there is unused technical capacity. In the medium term, the government expects to launch capacity auctions before the end of the year, to keep gas plants as support as batteries and other technologies. But this, as the employers of the sector warn, will take time. The route map is more than clear. And the road is quite long: more storage, intelligent networks, decentralization, demand management. The challenge is not only to generate more renewable energy, but make it useful when it is most needed. And that requires investment, infrastructure and political decisions. Meanwhile, the paradox continues: we have cheap energy at noon, but we cannot use it at night. The invoice, as always, does not expect. Image | HPGRESEN Xataka | Spain was supposed to have a “antiapagones” plan. It has encountered an insurmountable obstacle: politics

California will test a “co -pilot of AI” at one of the most sensitive points of its electricity grid. Can go very well … or very bad

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There is a less visible part of the electricity grid: the one that goes out on purpose. From time to time, whole teams must disconnect by maintenance. They are routine tasks, but their coordination and validation are decisive so that the system continues to work. In California, that work falls to the California Independent System Operator (Caiso) human team. Now, an artificial intelligence will begin to collaborate with them. Caiso has launched A pilot project with the firm Oati. The objective is to verify how a language model, similar to the one that drives Chatgptcan attend in a critical mission: manage requests – especially the scheduled – that come daily to perform maintenance in the network. Artificial intelligence to attend a task that cannot fail Many of these requests imply, although not always, temporarily disconnect key assets. If the information is incomplete or incorrect, the consequences can be felt in real time: from Network instability even alterations in the electricity market. Therefore, although part of the flow is already automated, the final review remains manual and exhaustive. Between 2020 and 2025, internal graphs show a high volume of applications, with clear spring and autumn peaks, the usual maintenance windows. That seasonality, added to the total number of requests, converts maintenance management into one of the most complex operating challenges in the system. The tool is called Oati Genie and is raised as a co -pilot of AI. Detect anomalies, extract operational information and suggest steps based on previous cases. To achieve this, it combines retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) with a system of multiple agents: operators formulate questions in natural language and receive contextualized answers, with links to documents and records that support them. The operator can, for example, ask what work could affect a certain electric route and obtain a history, procedures and public data such as those of OASIS (Open Access Same-Time Information System), the regulated base that centralizes technical and market information in real time. That consultation, which previously demanded manual searches, now comes with much more agility. The co -pilot does not decide for itself, its role serves to reinforce and expedite the human decision. If everything is going as planned, the tool will enter internal tests before the end of the year. Those who use it may report failures, limitations or improvements and help profile their evolution. It is not an isolated experiment, but part of a broader strategy to Apply to other areas of the system. The plan is underway, but there is still knowing if Oati Genie will fulfill what he promises. It may become a daily ally for operators; Maybe it’s just a step on the road to a smarter network. The only sure thing is that the electricity sector already explores that address. Images | Caiso | Javad Esmaeili In Xataka | Harvest wheat or kilowatts? The new account that many farmers make in Spain

Spain produces more solar energy than ever, but it only gets a cheap time of electricity a day

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In full July, with the air conditioning Working tirelessly and The tuned light billin Spain there is a single moment of the day when electricity consumption does not hurt so much in the pocket. That little energy respite is concentrated at noon, a time strip in which electricity costs half or even less than in the rest of the day, but why is it just time? The fire triggered. On Wednesday, July 16, the average price of electricity had been in the € 164.06/MWh at the regulated rate (PVPC), According to data from Electrica de España. For this Thursday 17, a slight drop is expected to € 102.85/MWh, but that half hides an unequal reality: for much of the day, the cost exceeds 120 euros per megavatio hour, As the Iberian energy market operator has collected (OMIE). Only for a single hour there is a “affordable” price. In just seven hours, electricity will go from relatively affordable to almost double its price. At 15:00, it will cost € 73.00/MWh. At 22:00, it will reach € 129.85/MWh. The explanation is not in a peak of consumption, but in a change of source: the sun is exhausted, the gas enters and the market reacts. Why only in that time strip? The reason is in the sun. From three in the afternoon, the solar production curve increases considerably. The electrical system then enters an overoferta phase: there is more renewable generation than real demand. This surplus translates into an abrupt fall in the price in the wholesale market (‘pool’), which reflects in real time the imbalance between what is produced and what is consumed. The problem is that this surplus cannot be stored properly. Spain still does not have batteries No infrastructure sufficient pumping to save That cheap energy and release it when it is most needed. Thus, the system is forced to sell cheap at noon and buy expensive at dusk. To this lack of storage is added a less visible problem: he Curtailment. Although more renewable than ever, part of that energy is lost due to saturation of the network. According to Red Eléctrica, in some knots of the central-south peninsular-such as Arenas de San Juan or Caroyuelas— It has wasted up to 30 % of the electricity generated due to lack of capacity to evacuate it. Meanwhile, the price of light continues to rise. This schedule imbalance generates what experts call a daily “spread”: a price difference that can exceed € 200/MWh between the cheapest time and the most expensive of the day. It is what makes an invoice shoot although part of electricity is generated almost free. It is not just guilt of the sun. The price of light not only depends solely on solar radiation. From the blackout of April 28, Red Electrica has activated A reinforced operational modewith more weight of the combined gas cycles to stabilize the network. This emergency measure It has become the new normality While structural reforms are implemented that will not be ready until next year. The direct impact on the invoice. Consumers with regulated rate (PVPC) are the most exposed to this volatility. Every day, your bill depends on the price hour by time. But even free market customers are noticing uploads: some electrical companies are transferring the contracts to the contracts, As Facua has warnedwhat could be illegal if it is not foreseen contractually. With this panorama, many consumers try to concentrate the use of appliances such as washing machines, ovens or air conditioners during that cheap time of the day. However, not everyone has room to reorganize their life around a single low cost strip. The solution is more than clear. In this environment we have spoken many times: it goes through More energy storage, greater demand management, More local micro -redes and best interconnections with Europe. The government already has launched Royal Decree-Law 7/2025 To accelerate these changes, and has initiated the creation of a capacity market to guarantee the supply. But none of these measures is immediate. Some have deadlines until September, but others will lengthen until mid -2026. Meanwhile, the gas dependence will continue to mark night prices. A race against clock. Every day, the Spanish electrical system offers a single cheap electricity window. It is the reflection of an energy paradox: there has never been so much renewable energy, and it has never been so difficult to take advantage of it efficiently. As long as storage and flexibility deficiencies are not resolved, the cheap time will be a timely privilege and not a guarantee. In a summer marked by heat waves, the cost of not acting on time will be measured not only in euros, but also in emissions, social vulnerability and energy dependence. Image | Unspash Xataka | Broady in April, more expensive invoice in May: thus has affected the system reinforcement

The electricity network was not prepared for 2025

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Although Bocachancla’s fame has been gained by the fame, Elon Musk can also be hit in his predictions. In mid -2024 predicted that this year we would see failures in the electricity grid because it was not prepared for current demand levels. And so it is being in large part of the world. Musk’s prediction. First, the shortage was from chips. Now, the bottleneck is in the voltage transformers. To the electrification that was already underway, the computing dedicated to the AI has been added, which is multiplied by ten every six months. “I have never seen a technology advance so quickly,” said the businessman in the Bosch Connected World 2024. What sounded to hyperbole has become a tangible problem just 18 months later. The difficulties in connecting new data centers, Light cuts during heat waves and The climbing of the night price of electricity They are already symptoms of an old and inflexible network that falls short for the times. The demand is runaway. In Italy, requests for connection to the network of new data centers They reached 42 gigawatts in March 2025a spectacular leap from the 30 GW registered at the end of last year. This 40% growth in just a quarter shows a voracious energy demand that mainly driven by AI. The energy appetite of generative AI is not a secret in Silicon Valley. Renewable energy has fallen short due to the slow expansion of batteries, and companies such as Microsoft, Amazon and Meta are investing in nuclear reactors To feed your data centers. A summer of blackouts. The summer of 2025 is serving as a hard reminder of the fragility of our electrical networks. On July 1, a heat wave caused a blackout in Florence. The cause: an overload in the network for the demand for air conditioning and overheating underground cables. It was not an isolated case. Countries like Kuwait and Bangladesh They decreed programmed cuts of electricity by heat waves. The networks operate with increasingly narrow margins, as we saw in Spain with the Bru what of April 28. There is no need for a catastrophic event to trigger a collapse: stations that control the tension They are at the limit. The background problem. Electrification, air conditioning and AI explosion is not the root cause of the problem. Neither does the lack of generation or storage. The background problem is the abandonment of infrastructure that connects everything. For every dollar that is invested in generating electricity, 40 cents are barely allocated to the networks, according to the International Energy Agency We are building an energy system of the 21st century on an infrastructure of the twentieth century. The IEA warning is as clear as that of Musk: “Without action, the electrical networks will be the bottleneck of the energy transition.” Elon Musk’s prediction was not a futuristic fantasy; It was a diagnosis of a disease that the electrical system already suffered. Images | Bosch, Dr. Maik Koch In Xataka | A month after the blackout in Spain, we continue to drag the same problem that led us to him: electric networks

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