Europe

Europe seeks to become independent from Microsoft Office. Your alternative is already here, but not without controversy

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For a few months now, and seeing how the situation is, in Europe a feeling of change has awakened about the technology we consume. Movements have appeared among users to abandon software and hardware from American companiesbut that is something that is also impacting governments and among own European companies. And something that seems minor, but is not at all, is the European software A-Team that has come together to create Euro-Office, the alternative to Microsoft Office. And it hasn’t started off on the best foot. Euro-Office. The name couldn’t be more apt, but something must be said: it doesn’t come out of nowhere. This is an initiative that was born as a fork direct from OnlyOffice. Android users Do you know what a fork is? and, basically, it is taking another software… copying it. The desired changes are made and it is launched independently. Since it is usually free or open source software, there are no problems creating a new version. The software will not be a standalone thing, but rather a package consisting of a text editor, spreadsheet, PDF editor and a presentation tool. Support includes formats such as DOCX, XLSX, PPTX and ODF versions. Come on, it wants to be an alternative to Office, but also to Docs and any other suite. Where does it come from?. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the project is that it is not an initiative of a university, a startup or a specific country. The project was made public a few days ago and has nsuch powerful ombres behind such as IONOS, Nextcloud, Eurostack, XWiki, BTactic, Soverin and OpenProject, among others. In fact, it seems that Proton is also out there (which apart from its own suite, has cloud storage systems, email and VPNbeing one of the strongest alternatives to the Google suite). And the common narrative is that it is a European ‘front’ to reduce dependence on American suites in sensitive environments. Because yes, when a Government, for example, saves documents in the cloud of Google or any other foreign company, who is to say that there is no access. This is what the text editor looks like Digital sovereignty. As I said at the beginning of the article, Europe seeks sovereignty in different areas. In technology, they want to become a power in chip manufacturing (they already have part of the way done by having ASMLthe company more cutting-edge when it comes to creating machines that allow advanced chips to be manufactured). They also want to stop depending on NASA or SpaceX for space exploration, so we have gotten into that race. And in the digital sovereignty becomes independent from American and Russian services. For this reason, Euro-Office is considered from the beginning as a service integrated into the GDPR that is not subject to external jurisdictions such as the US CLOUD Act and that is integrated into public administration, education, government-regulated companies, critical infrastructure, health or education. For everyone. And since changing so much is complicated, the intention is to make the transition as simple as possible for users. This is where maximum compatibility with Microsoft formats comes into play, but also a familiar interface so as not to generate friction. And, above all, it was born with the desire to focus that independence on software. Because until now we had LibreOffice and OnlyOffice, but what is sought is to stop waging war on their own and for all European organizations to go in unison The controversy. Here may be the question, and also the controversy. If there was already something, why spend time developing something else and not use that already existing alternative as the “official” one? Well, according to the promoters of Euro-Office, because collaboration with OnlyOffice was not viable. They quote the Russian roots of the project (although the headquarters are in Latvia) and decisions such as the withdrawal of functions in the mobile app as some of the reasons why the fork was the last, but necessary, resort. From OnlyOffice hold that Euro-Office violates certain terms of its license, citing intellectual property theft and copyright infringement. And it has not stopped at “well I’m angry”, but something more: OnlyOffice has accused Nextcloud of trying to sign its staff to take them to the EuroOffice project. Next steps. The commotion goes further because it has been pointed out that, if it is a fork of an app of Russian origin, they do not know to what extent Euro-Office can introduce yourself as something “purely European.” But, in any case, it is evident that there is a growing interest in becoming independent from non-European technology and this suite has a version 1.0 planned for this summer. The preliminary version It’s already on Github. The most complicated thing remains: moving the very heavy transatlantic that is the public organizations of the different European countries that want to join this. Also see how they convince those who already use European suites such as those from The Document Foundation -LibreOffice- or the British Collabora to switch back to Euro-Office. In Xataka | Schrödinger’s Office: at this point it is impossible to know if Microsoft keeps it alive or if everything is AI and Copilot

97% of a key mineral for Europe comes from China. Spain has a plan of 197 million to turn it around

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Constant technological development has unleashed a silent but relentless geopolitical war. At the center of the target are rare earths and critical minerals, essential for manufacturing everything from mobile phones to electric cars or wind turbines. Nowadays, how to explain Europa PressEurope is in a situation of extreme vulnerability: 97% of the magnesium we consume comes from China and 98% of the borate we import from Türkiye. However, the solution to this deep dependence could be buried under Spanish soil. A new plan. As detailed in the National Mining Exploration Program 2026-2030 (PNEM), the official document promoted by the Government of Spain20 of the 34 raw materials that the European Union classifies as fundamental have been detected in the Iberian Peninsula. Of them, 17 are considered strategic due to their high technological and defense impact. To map and take advantage of this “treasure”, the Executive has launched an ambitious plan. The financing table of the PNEM itself projects a total investment of 197 million euros for the five-year period 2026-2030, adding public financing, aid and private investment that is expected to be mobilized. A breath for Europe and an opportunity for Spain. The European roadmap, crystallized in the Fundamental Raw Materials Regulation (Critical Raw Materials Act or CRMA), is very clear: guarantee access to a safe and diversified supply. By 2030, the European Union has set a goal of extracting at least 10%, processing 40% and recycling 25% of its domestic demand for these materials. In this context, Spain is not a secondary actor, but is the only producer of strontium in Europe, hosting 15% of the world’s reserves in the Montevives and Escúzar basin in Granada, and holds the position of second largest copper producer on the continent. according to data provided by Europa Press. The main focus of exploration is located in the Variscan or Iberian Massif, an extensive geological strip that crosses the west of the peninsula from Galicia to Andalusia, passing through Cantabria, Asturias, Castilla y León and Extremadura. The official document highlights, within this great massif, the so-called Central Ibérica, Ossa-Morena and South Portuguesa Zones as priority areas for general exploration. The private sector takes positions. On a practical level, intentions are already being translated into business movements on the ground. In Extremadura the Junta has granted a license to explore an area of ​​49,500 hectares in the Cáceres regions of Los Ibores and Campo de Arañuelo. In Andalusia, specifically in Jaén, the Australian company Osmond Resources will promote the Orion projectcovering 228 square kilometers in the former mining region of Linares-La Carolina to search for unusually high concentrations of rutile, zircon and rare earths such as neodymium. For its part, the European Commission has already blessed seven strategic projects in Spanish territory to protect the supply, located in enclaves of Ciudad Real, Orense, Cáceres, Badajoz, Huelva and Seville. Cutting-edge technology versus “pick and shovel”. The National Mining Exploration Program does not contemplate blindly digging holes. The Ministry’s text outlines six great performances interconnected to locate these raw materials. The process will begin with an exhaustive review of historical data and geoscientific reports, followed by the preparation of highly detailed geological-mining cartography. From there, technology will take over. Geochemical soil prospecting campaigns and complex isotopic analyzes will be carried out to find anomalies in the terrain. In addition, cutting-edge geophysical techniques will be deployed, using everything from airborne gravimetry and magnetometry equipment (planes and drones), to remote sensing using high-resolution hyperspectral and satellite images provided by the European Space Agency. All of this will be complemented by carrying out physical surveys to confirm the mining interest of the anomalies. Finally, as the official plan highlights, all this huge amount of data will be processed using algorithms, artificial intelligence and machine learning to generate predictive models of mineralization. The inevitable clash: Mining vs. Biodiversity. However, technology collides head-on with strict environmental reality. The clearest example is in Campo de Montiel (Ciudad Real). There, the company Quantum Minería has been trying to exploit a promising monazite deposit to extract rare earths. But the project has encountered strong neighborhood opposition due to the very high water consumption it requires and an unexpected defender: the iberian lynx. The recovery of this feline’s territories in the area has become a major legal obstacle for the mining company, paralyzing permits due to fear of destroying its habitat. Although before the environmental alarms go off, it is important to make a fundamental point: this National Program serves to know what we have, it is not an authorization to dig it up. The Ministry’s own document clarifies that the plan does not establish “binding or indicative objectives” for exploitation. That is, it is a purely prospective roadmap and data collection that does not compromise or zone the territory to open real mines. The mine is in the “garbage”. Faced with this paralysis and the immense difficulty of opening new mines in natural areas, Spain has an ace up its sleeve: secondary mining and the circular economy. The National Program reserves one of its main transversal lines to respond to article 27 of the European regulations (CRMA), thoroughly investigating the economic potential of mining waste facilities that were closed or abandoned in the past. The Ministry document remember thatalready in the 80s, an inventory was prepared that cataloged 21,673 waste structures (rafts and waste dumps) spread throughout the national territory. Now, the State’s objective is to review this catalog and promote geochemical characterization work to recover those fundamental raw materials that, at the time, were not of interest or could not be extracted and were discarded. As pointed out Europa Press, Research teams from the University of Seville led by professors Joaquín Delgado and Antonio Romero are already working in Río Tinto (Huelva) designing experimental plants to recover valuable metals and rare earths from the acidic waters of abandoned mines. Even beyond the mine. A clear example of this circular bet is the RC-Metals projectled by the National Center for Metallurgical Research (CENIM-CSIC). … Read more

Without the support of Europe it would have been literally impossible.

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We tend to see the space race as that. A competition in which one country comes first. In 1969 it was said that the United States defeated the Soviet Union (USSR) in the race to put humans on the Moon. Before, it had been the USSR that had prevailed by taking the first human into space. Now, many consider that NASA has once again emerged victorious, by defeating China, which He also wanted to put his flag on our satellite. But, in reality, it has not been NASA alone that has achieved this first step towards returning to lunar territory. Other agencies are involved and, above all, we cannot forget that, without the support of Europe, these four astronauts would not be traveling to the Moon. Literally. Three European engines. The Orion capsule is guided, directed and powered by a set of 33 engines called the European Service Module. The surname is not trivial, since It has been designed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and built by Airbus under ESA guidelines. In addition, the engineers at ESTEC, ESA’s technical center located in the Netherlands, work closely with their colleagues at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, monitoring that everything is working properly with this essential piece for the proper development of the Artemis missions. The main engine. The European Service Module has a main engine that is responsible for promoting the speed changes necessary to guide Orion properly towards the Moon. It is a space shuttle engine that has already traveled to space on 6 missions between 2000 and 2002. ESA scientists have reconditioned and restored it so that it fits perfectly into Orion and meets all the needs of this capsule. Eight support engines. The main engine has eight auxiliary engines that intervene in the orbital corrections that are necessary for the trip to reach a successful conclusion. 24 precise motors. Finally, the European Service Module has 24 smaller engines, distributed in 6 capsules, which are responsible for driving more precise control of Orion’s movements. They can function individually or collaboratively, as needed. A key piece at a critical moment. On the second day of Artemis II’s trip, the European Service Module starred in one of the critical moments of this trip to the Moon. This is translunar combustion by injection, a process by which the capsule is accelerated to propel itself out of Earth’s orbit and, therefore, begin the real journey to the Moon. It’s not the first time. The European Service Module was already used on Artemis I with magnificent results. At that time the capsule was sent to the Moon unmanned. Without a doubt, the participation of four astronauts in the process makes this trip even more exciting, which continues to be possible, in large part, thanks to European intervention. Therefore, although NASA has the most press in all of this, we must not forget that it was Europe that pushed its astronauts, as well as a Canadian astronaut, to the Moon. Instead of talking about careers, we can talk about teamwork and, in the process, remember that, although some space agencies make more noise than others, those that work in the shadows are as indispensable as the rest. Images | THAT In Xataka | NASA is on its heels, so it has made a decision: advance its return to the Moon to 2030

30% of heavy trucks sold in China are already electric, in Europe only 4%

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China has been dominating with an iron fist for years the electric car race. Now it is opening a second front: heavy trucks. Just like they count Since Semafor, in 2025, almost three out of every ten heavy trucks sold in the country were electric or new energy. In Europe, the figure does not reach 5%. And the most striking thing is not the difference, but the speed at which that gap is closing. An unprecedented leap in a very short time. In 2021, new energy trucks barely accounted for 0.7% of heavy vehicle sales in China. In 2024, they were already 12.9%. Just like share the average, in 2025, almost 30%. That pace of adoption, according to Zhao Pei, a postdoctoral researcher at MIT, “leaves the rest of the world in the dust.” In Europe the figure remains around 4%, and in California, which is supposed to be the region of the United States where there is the greatest adoption of electric trucks, annual sales are counted in hundreds of units, according to the analysis firm Rystad Energy. lTrucks are more difficult to electrify. Heavy vehicles are the backbone of any country’s domestic trade, but electrifying them is much more complex than doing the same with a car. Their energy needs are enormous and the size of the batteries can reduce the charging capacity. Furthermore, there is still a lot of distrust of technology in the freight transportation sector. “They are a completely different game from passenger cars when it comes to electrification,” counted Mao Shiyue, researcher at the International Council on Clean Transportation. Politics and prices as catalysts. Since 2020, China’s central government forced factories in key sectors (steel, cement, energy) to incorporate a percentage of new energy trucks or face production restrictions on days of high pollution. Added to this were very generous subsidies to replace diesel trucks with electric ones. The result: a huge domestic market, highly integrated supply chains and fierce internal competition that has accelerated innovation. Today, the cost per kilometer of an electric truck in China is approximately one-third that of its diesel equivalent, they shared from the middle. Although the purchase price is double, the difference is amortized in about two years. The infrastructure that makes it possible. China has also deployed an entire network for its electric trucks to operate. To achieve this, they have been working for some time on what they call their “green corridors”, specific charging networks for heavy vehicles along highways. One of the largest, built by Qiyuan Green Power, connects Tianjin port with the Gansu industrial region across 2,200 kilometers and 27 stations. For its part, CATL, the world’s largest battery manufacturer for electric vehicles, it has developed a battery exchange technology that allows a dead battery to be replaced with a charged one in just five minutes, and already has more than 300 operational stations in the country. The weak point: long distance. Not everything is resolved. Trucks operating short, fixed routes have led the transition, but long-distance trucks, which can travel up to 1,000 kilometers a day, remain a challenge. The autonomy and capacity of current batteries are not always sufficient for these routes. And just as share From Semafor, a typical 49-ton heavy truck can travel between 200 and 300 kilometers on a load, enough to operate in ports and urban areas, but far from what long-distance interregional routes need. Now they arrive in Europe, and cheaper. More than half a dozen Chinese manufacturers plan to enter the European heavy truck market in 2026. According to account Reuters, among them stand out BYD, Farizon (Geely), Sany (which is currently the best-selling electric truck brand in China), Sinotruk and the startups Windrose and SuperPanther. The middle share that newly arrived manufacturers plan to set prices up to 30% below the European average, which is around 320,000 euros. Even so, that triples the cost of a conventional diesel truck, whose average in the EU is around 100,000 euros. Unstoppable speed. Phil Dunne, of the consultancy Grant Thornton Stax, counted Reuters that the European sector takes on average seven years to complete a development cycle for a new truck. Windrose, a startup founded in 2022, took three years to develop its Global E700 model, obtain approval to sell it in China, Europe and the United States, and prepare it to enter production. Its price in Europe will be 250,000 euros. “The speed at which the Chinese have come up with good products has surprised everyone,” Dunne said. Code red. Volvo, Daimler Trucks, Iveco, MAN and Scania dominate the European market and have the advantage of built-up trust among their customers. But they are aware of the risk. Volvo Group CEO Martin Lundstedt described Chinese manufacturers as “fast, innovative, determined and committed”. In parallel, associations such as ACEA and E-Mobility Europe they press the European Commission to accelerate support measures with lower tolls for electric trucks, fleet electrification mandates and subsidies tied to European production. What is at stake. China is the world’s largest importer of fossil fuels, has the most extensive road network on the planet and road transport represents almost three quarters of its volume total merchandise. If the electrification of its trucks advances at the planned pace, Rystad Energy calculate that China’s demand for diesel could fall by 20% from current levels before 2030. “We have one or two years to get ahead of ourselves. Or the Chinese will eat our toast,” counted Chris Heron, Secretary General of E-Mobility Europe. Cover image | aboodi vesakaran and Sany Group In Xataka | China has been boasting about its driverless robotaxis for years. Until more than 100 have stood at once in Wuhan

Carlos Li, CEO of TCL Europe, on the commitment to giant TVs to conquer the high-end

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TCL is in an enviable moment in the television market. In 2025 managed to sell 20% more TVs while other of its competitors such as Hisense fell. Even Samsung, world leader in sales, fell slightly and the separation with TCL, its most direct rival, is already barely 1% share. The striking thing about this growth of TCL is in which segment it has occurred: the high-end. Nobody dispatches more MiniLED TVs than them right now and giant screens (85 inches or more) take up more than 22% of the global market. ​ The coup de effect was the recent announcement of alliance with Sony. The agreement, which is expected to come into operation in April 2027 at the earliest, is the most eloquent sign of how far a company has come that, until not long ago, was seen as good value for money and that’s it. With all this context, we were able to chat with Carlos Li, CEO of TCL Europe, who explained to us the company’s next steps to continue growing in televisions, but also in other segments such as household appliances. TCL has conquered the market thanks to a very good quality-price ratio and now I suppose the challenge is the high-end segment. What is your strategy to convince the European consumer to invest three or four thousand euros in a TCL X955For example? “We are focused on technology and also on giant screens. We believe that bigger, especially if we want to motivate consumers to return to the living room to watch television more often as a family. It takes a good experience to watch games or movies and differentiate itself from other devices, such as phones or tablets. We simply offer bigger screens and better image and sound quality. For more premium products, we are working on improving the experience, both in audio and video, to create an immersive cinema or gaming environment. That’s it which motivates consumers to pay premium prices to get a better product for their daily use.” Do you see this being a trend across Europe or just in some countries? Is it also happening here in Spain? “Yes, it has been proven and has been very successful in many markets. First years ago in China, and now in the United States, Europe, emerging markets, Latin America and also in the Middle East. We see this trend because, thanks to better products and larger screens, people are buying more televisions than before, especially high-end products with higher prices. We think we are very competitive in that area.” The recent news about the manufacturing deal with Sony has generated a lot of buzz. Beyond the volume of business, do you feel that the fact that a brand as demanding as Sony trusts its subsidiary CSOT serves as a definitive validation of TCL’s engineering and all its experience in this field? “First of all, the possible cooperation between TCL and Sony is still in the phase of a memorandum of understanding (MOU). We are still in the process of migrating from the MOU to a contract, so there are many things under discussion. But the good thing is that both Sony and TCL see the synergy that we can create together due to our capabilities in the industry, especially in the supply chain, R&D, resources in terms of CSOT panels, and our continuous investment in new technological innovations. This creates the synergy. perfect between the two companies for a new joint venture. Everything is still in process, but I think it is good proof that both parties see good added value in the other for the business portfolio.” I know everything is under discussion right now and it may take time to talk things out, but is there a tentative date to operate together? “It is a long-term bet, we are at an early stage and the two companies really need to get involved in the new strategy. There will be contracts later, so we do not expect to have an immediate impact on the market in 2026. It is more of a medium-term impact, like five or ten years.” There is a lot of talk about mini RGB or RGB mini LED as the technology that will surpass OLED and even traditional mini LED. What is TCL’s vision regarding this technology? “We have been developing Mini RGB technology for years, although we did not announce it before. We believe that SQD is a better display technology with better quality in terms of brightness and contrast. In the end, RGB is a type of mini LED TV with red, green and blue, but it has a higher cost because instead of a single LED light, you need to have three. This technology is not new for us, we have been developing it for eight years, which is why we are also launching our RGB mini LED TV. However, along with that, we will strongly push our “SQD because it is a unique technology in the industry, very robust and linked to our CSOT panel technology. For the moment, we reserve the SQD technology exclusively for our TCL brand, which creates a much better image quality compared to a Mini RGB. So the Mini RGB will be just one of the products in our portfolio.” Will they prioritize SQD then? “We believe that SQD will be the main trend for the future. We think it is a better solution as a display technology, which can really surprise the end user while maintaining the original price, and that is why we propose this.” Appliances, glasses and other areas where TCL also wants its piece of cake Carlos Li during the inauguration of the new TCL office in Madrid Many people know TCL for their televisions, but they also have appliances and we are seeing a lot of movement from other manufacturers in this segment. What is TCL’s next move in Europe regarding home appliances? “In home appliances, and together with air conditioners, we are … Read more

the strange medieval epidemic that paralyzed Europe for two centuries

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At some point in the late 14th century, Charles VI of France stopped moving. Not because of paralysis or fear of his enemies, but because he was convinced that his body was made of glass, and that any touch could shatter it. It was not an isolated case. Those affected by this collective delusion believed that all or part of their body was made of glass. The phenomenon has its own name in the history of psychiatry: the crystal delirium. And his story says disturbing things about how the sick mind always speaks the language of its time. Charles VI, nicknamed El Loco for whatever he may be Charles VI inherited the French throne in 1380, aged eleven. When he turned twenty, he removed his corrupt uncles from power and restored stability to the kingdom’s finances. The people called him le Bien-Aiméthe Beloved. Twelve years later, his definitive nickname would be different: le Fou, the Fool. In August 1392, during a military campaign towards Brittany, the king (23 years old at the time) was riding through the forest of Le Mans when a page dropped a spear. The metallic roar was enough to trigger a violent crisis: Carlos attacked his own knights and killed four before being subdued. It was the first of dozens of episodes that would accompany him until his death in 1422. Pope Pius II wrote that there were times when Carlos believed he was made of glassand that was why he tried to protect himself in multiple ways to avoid breaking, going so far as to have iron rods sewn into his clothes. Something else happened shortly after the onset of the crystalline delirium. In January 1393, the king and several nobles attended a party disguised as “wild men,” wearing linen suits covered in pitch and branches. An errant spark ignited a costume and the fire spread among the men. Only the king and another companion escaped alive, in an event that inspired Edgar Allan Poe to write his macabre story ‘Hop-Frog’. The event went down in history as the Bal des Ardentsthe Dance of the Burning Men. Whether or not that trauma accelerated his mental deterioration is something that historians still debate. When his crises took hold of him, Carlos became a different man: He could sit still for hours and, if he moved, he did so with extreme caution. This had a tremendous political cost: the monarch instability It weakened the French court and allowed rival factions to vie for power, exacerbating the challenges France faced in the midst of the Hundred Years’ War with England. In 1415 his troops were crushed at Agincourt, and in 1420 he signed the Treaty of Troyes, by which he disinherited his own son. The crystal generation Charles VI was, according to historian Gill Speak probably the first documented case of someone believing their entire body was made of glass. But he was far from the only one. The first medical text that records delirium as a recognizable condition dates from 1561, work of the Dutch doctor Levinus Lemnius. The phenomenon belonged to a broader category called “scholar’s melancholy”, an ailment that mainly affected men of letters and nobles from the 15th to 17th centuries. The documented cases are as extravagant as they are revealing. A man was convinced that his buttocks were made of glass and that sitting down would make them burst, so he avoided leaving the house in case a glazier tried to melt it to turn it into a window. Another traveled to Murano, the Italian island famous for its glass, with the intention of throwing himself into a furnace and being transformed into a glass. Engraving of ‘The Stained Glass Licensed’ A third nobleman (always unemployed people, the core issue of the topic) believed he was a glass vessel and spent the day lying on a bed of straw. His doctor ordered the bed to be set on fire with the door closed: when the nobleman pounded on the door asking for help, the doctor asked why it had not shattered with so much fuss. The cure was brutal but, apparently, effective. Transparent glass was not, in the 15th century, an everyday occurrence. It was in that century when the Venetian glassmaker Angelo Barovier invented the cristalloa clear, colorless glass that was extraordinarily rare and was seen by many as something almost magical. Before this innovation, neuroses were different: men who believed they were made of clay and later, in the 19th century, people who believed they were made of cement. The content of delusions reflects the culture of each moment: glass was a new material and therefore became the object of delusions. Glass, specifically, offered transparency: being made of glass meant being precious and fragile, a form of grandeur and isolation at the same time. Miguel de Cervantes published ‘El licensed Vidriera’, one of his ‘Exemplary Novels’, in 1613. The protagonist, Tomás Rodaja, is a brilliant and poor student who, after ingesting a love potion, is convinced that his body is made of glass due to the delicacy and subtlety of the material, with an admirable and delirious internal logic. It is a clear sign that delirium has its corresponding literature at the time: Robert Burton cataloged the phenomenon in ‘Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621) as a symptom of melancholy, and Descartes, in his ‘Meditations on First Philosophy’ (1641), used the “glass man” as an example of madness to distinguish his own philosophical doubts from the delusions of a sick brain. In Xataka | The Middle Ages have a reputation for being a dark period. Until you discover the names they had for their pets

how a relay in Gipuzkoa saved Europe while the Spanish system died of success

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Next April 28 it will be exactly one year of the biggest collapse in our recent history: the great blackout that turned the Iberian Peninsula black and left 55 million people in Spain and Portugal without electricity supply for 12 hours. Almost twelve months later, we finally have the official autopsy. The final report. The European Network of Electricity Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E) has made public the long-awaited final report. Throughout 472 pages, the panel of experts dissects an unprecedented event to the millisecond. The document, which warns from its preamble that it does not seek to assign legal responsibilities but rather to learn from mistakes, reveals a chilling diagnosis: the blackout was the perfect storm caused by the rigidity of new technologies, manual ineffectiveness in the face of a millisecond crisis and an infrastructure incapable of keeping pace with the energy transition. The anatomy of collapse. To understand the ruling, you have to look south. According to the European report, at 12:03 p.m. on April 28 a local vibration was recorded of 0.63 Hz caused by instability in the electronic converters of renewable plants. Minutes later, at 12:19, the swing was amplified, affecting the entire continent. Technical research points to what could be defined as “operational blindness.” The report notes that much of the renewable generation in Spain operated under a “fixed power factor.” That is, the solar and wind plants were blind to the needs of the grid; they could not absorb reactive energy dynamically. When the voltage rose, these plants were simply taken offline for safety. When they stopped generating electricity, their reactive absorption also suddenly stopped, causing a rebound effect that triggered the voltage in an uncontrolled manner. Furthermore, while the crisis required millisecond reflexes, the control of reactances (the machines that absorb excess voltage) was carried out manually. Operators needed vital minutes to assess the situation. The blackout that could have been avoided. The European report not only acts as a notary for what failed, but also puts on the table what should have happened. By diving into the technical simulations of the ENTSO-E document, sector experts such as Joaquín Coronado have drawn a devastating conclusion: The collapse of the Spanish electrical system was not inevitable, but the result of ineffective management of voltage control by the System Operator (Red Eléctrica). The European analysis is blunt. In his simulation of sensitivity (named Analysis 7), the report concludes that if the connection of the reactances – such as the Caparacena shunt reactor at 400 kV – had been automated instead of depending on the slow human factor, the voltage rise would have been limited and the cascade effect avoided. In addition, ENTSO-E simulates alternative scenarios that show that electrical zero would have been stopped cold with measures that should already be operational: an increase in reactive power margins, the requirement that conventional generators absorb more voltage, or the use of the eight new synchronous capacitors that were already planned in the 2021-2026 planning. Without this automated reactive power reserve or dynamic support, the network was orphaned at the worst possible moment. The rescue from Gipuzkoa. The continental disaster was avoided thanks to Gipuzkoa. At 12:33, the high voltage substation in the Osinaga neighborhood of Hernani detected that the Spanish chaos threatened to drag down all of Europe. In milliseconds, the protection relay out-of-step (out of step) decapitated the connection with the French Argia substation. This “shot” left Spain in the dark, but it shielded the continental network. Barely ten minutes later, Hernani became the rescue route, allowing France to inject energy to resurrect the peninsular system from top to bottom (Top-Down). The structural problem of the market. The targeting of clean energy in the moments before the blackout has raised eyebrows, but the sector defends itself by pointing directly to regulatory inaction. In an interview for XatakaHéctor de Lama, technical director of UNEF (the photovoltaic employers’ association), is blunt: “A plant, no matter how large, cannot cause a blackout. Many other factors must come together.” De Lama explains that the current inverters installed in Spain meet very high European technical requirements, but places the structural problem on the roof of the Ministry (MITECO) and the CNMC for not financially incentivizing renewables to provide security services to the grid. “The current remuneration of €1/MVArh is not enough to encourage renewables to provide this service (voltage control) when we are paying combined cycle plants between 100 and 200 times more for the same thing,” details De Lama. The UNEF expert also recalls a historical administrative negligence that took its toll on us on April 28: while Portugal approved regulations to take advantage of the voltage control of its renewables in 2019, Spain took years to implement vital mechanisms such as Operation Procedure 7.4. We were playing with the rules of the past in the face of a crisis of the future. “A gold mine without a road.” This diagnosis fits with the voices of the industry. During the VI Economic Forum of elDiario.esPatxi Calleja, director of regulation at Iberdrola Spain, defined the national system as “a gold mine without a road.” We have enormous cheap generation capacity, but the electricity grid is the great limitation due to lack of investment compared to our European neighbors. And this green shield also has cracks. As we already analyzed in Xatakathe very high renewable penetration shields us from geopolitical crises (such as the increase in gas prices due to the war in Iran) during daylight hours, plummeting prices to zero. However, as soon as the sun goes down, the lack of mass battery storage sends us back to square one, leaving us at the mercy of combined cycles and fossil volatility. The war without quarter. While technicians analyze the ENTSO-E simulations that point to operational failures, a fierce battle is being waged in the offices. The president of Redeia (parent company of Red Eléctrica), Beatriz Corredor, has used the Brussels report in her appearances in the Senate to entrench herself … Read more

While Europe panics about the price of electricity, in Spain the opposite is happening

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The ghosts of the energy crisis have once again haunted Europe. As energy expert Alejandro Diego Rosell warnsin just a month of tensions the price of gas (TTF) has skyrocketed more than 90% in March. In most of the continent, this shock translates into an almost automatic increase in the cost of electricity, recalling the “shock” caused by the Ukrainian War four years ago. However, in Spain the unthinkable has happened: the bill has gone down. In short. The electricity bill for customers with the regulated rate (PVPC) has fallen by around 4.8% this month of March compared to the same period last year. The difference with our neighbors is abysmal. While in Italy wholesale electricity is paid at €143/MWh and in Germany it is close to €100/MWh, the Spanish market (pool) closed March with a contained average of €41.5/MWh. How has this been possible? This energy firewall against the geopolitical crisis is not the result of chance, but rather the combination of three fundamental factors: The Government’s fiscal shield: In response to the escalation in the Middle East, the Executive has activated a shock plan. The Official State Gazette (BOE) published Royal Decree-Law 7/2026which recovers the tax cuts from the previous crisis. The VAT on electricity drops to 10%, the electricity tax plummets to 0.5% and the generation tax (IVPEE) is suspended. The muscle of renewables: This is the great structural difference compared to 2022. Alejandro Diego Rosell emphasizes thatSince the start of the Ukrainian war, Spain has added 30 GW of solar energy and more than 3 GW of wind energy to its network. The result is that 65.1% of the electricity consumed this March has come from clean and cheap sources, pushing up electricity prices. pool down. The climatic factor: Nature has also done its part. this winter has been characterized because it was very rainy and windy. This abundance of water and wind has allowed so much energy to be generated that last Sunday the market reached the cheapest hourly price in history: -10 euros per MWh at three in the afternoon. How does it affect the pocket? The combination of low taxes and high renewable generation has meant direct relief for both families and the productive fabric. On the one hand, for an average consumer with a regulated rate, the March bill has stood at 68.10 euroswhich represents a saving of 3.42 euros compared to a year ago, according to comparative data from the CNMC. collected by The Voice of Galicia. For its part, eldiario.es collects estimates from electricity companies which estimate the savings derived solely from tax reductions between 7 euros for small households and up to 20 euros for large families or commercial premises. On the other hand, the most surprising data comes from the large factories. According to the latest Barometer of the AEGE associationthe Spanish electro-intensive industry today pays for electricity at €66.50/MWh, managing to be below the €67.73/MWh paid by the all-powerful German industry for the first time. In sectors where energy accounts for up to 50% of production costs, this surprise represents a vital injection of foreign competitiveness. The small print. To understand the full picture, it is necessary to look beyond the optimistic headlines. The experts consulted by the different media warn of several critical nuances: The hidden cost of “blackout insurance”: Such dependence on renewables has a price, since to guarantee the supply when there is a lack of sun or wind (or when there is excess and the grid cannot support it), Red Eléctrica must turn on gas plants to balance the system. These “technical restrictions” are very expensive and increase the final bill outside the wholesale market. France continues playing in another league: Despite winning the short-term battle against Germany, The Economist remember that we are very far from France. Thanks to its nuclear park, the French industry pays electricity at €32.05/MWh, less than half that of the Spanish industry. Furthermore, Germany compensates for its high market prices by injecting its factories with €38.78/MWh in CO2 aid, compared to the scarce €17.76/MWh allowed by the Spanish budget. The electrical mirage and the threat of summer: Electricity barely represents 20% of the country’s energy consumption. The other 80% (oil and gas for transport and industry) is 100% imported, so Spain remains very exposed to the ups and downs of the Middle East. In addition, Natalia Fabra, professor of Economics, warns that the electrical bargain It has an expiration date: starting at the end of June, the heat will reduce the efficiency of the solar panels, the use of air conditioning will trigger demand and gas prices will once again rise. Resilience facing the crisis. The Third Gulf War has tested Europe’s energy foundations. Spain, unlike what was experienced four years ago, has managed to avoid the first big blow thanks to a cocktail of fiscal intervention and green deployment. As Alejandro Diego Rosell concludesit is true that renewable energies do not magically isolate us from the complex international context, but the data from this month of March leave an undeniable lesson: without them, we would be much worse off. Spain has acquired valuable resilience, but the road to true energy independence is still long. Image | freepik 1 and 2 Xataka | The paradox of the Canary Islands: it is the only autonomous community where the VAT reduction on fuel will not be noticed

Europe fled from Russia’s gas to fall into the arms of the United States. The Third Gulf War proves that it was a trap

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Behind troop movements and sea blockades for the Third Gulf Warthere is a much quieter script twist that is shaking the foundations of the continental economy: false European security. A problem that comes from the other side of the pond. After the energy crisis due to the Ukrainian War (still valid), Europe thought it had solved its great energy vulnerability by changing the gas that arrived through Russian gas pipelines for liquefied natural gas (LNG) that crossed the Atlantic in ships from the United States. The idea of ​​the European Union was to bet its imports on Washington to diversify sources and avoid future geopolitical blackmail. However, the American lifeline has turned out to be punctured. With the global market in maximum tension due to the war in Iran, the US is not guaranteeing European supply and makes gas subject to trade wars and political whims. The real Achilles heel. Europe now depends on the United States for two-thirds of its LNG imports, according to the center for economic studies Bruegel. As global supply falls due to the conflict, Asian buyers — who traditionally sourced from the Gulf — are competing aggressively for flexible gas ships. The result is a bidding war to the highest bidder: according to Bruegelseveral shipments of American LNG have already been diverted from Europe to Asia in the midst of the conflict. At the diplomatic and commercial level, the situation with our “savior partner” is enormously unstable. In the midst of this crisis, Donald Trump has come to criticize European allies, urging them on social networks to “get their own oil,” according to Bloomberg. As if that were not enough, political friction over the conditions of the trade agreement between the EU and the US has caused senior US officials to threaten retaliation, casting serious doubts on Washington’s previous commitment to sell $750 billion in energy products (including its precious LNG) to the European bloc. The price of the “green illusion”. The impact of this imbalance is being brutal for European pockets. According to the Financial Times Based on data provided by the European Commission itself, the bill for EU fossil fuel imports has increased by 14 billion euros in just 30 days of conflict. Gas prices have experienced a rise of 70%, while oil prices have become more expensive by 60%. This puts in front of the mirror what in Euractiv have baptized as “the green illusion” of Europe: a glaring structural failure in the energy transition. Despite having invested nearly one trillion euros in renewable energy, the European Union’s energy dependence on imports remains at 60%, practically the same figure as in 2004. An ineffective design. The reason for this price contagion lies in the very design of the European electricity market. By operating with a marginalist system, the most expensive technology (usually gas) is the one that sets the price of electricity for everyone, as explained in Strategic Energy. In countries heavily dependent on gas to generate electricity, such as Italy, gas sets the price 89% of the time, exposing citizens directly to international volatility. However, there is hope if you do your homework. In Spain, the enormous growth of wind and solar energy has caused the gas only mark the price of electricity 15% of the hours, much better shielding the country against these external shocks. In fact, it’s not all bad news: solar electricity generation has saved the EU from spending 2 billion euros in fossil fuel imports only in the first 20 days of March. And now what? It doesn’t look like we’ll get a break anytime soon. The crisis will not be brief, as the European Commissioner for Energy, Dan Jørgensen, has strongly warned. who has made it clear thateven if peace were declared tomorrow, prices would not return to normal in the foreseeable future. The European Commission is already finalizing a “toolbox” with emergency measures that will suddenly return us to the scenarios of 2022. On the table in Brussels is the possibility of recovering taxes on extraordinary profits that fell from the sky (windfall tax) for energy companies. Drastic measures in sight. Brussels also foresees drastic measures to contain demand based in the well-known 10-point plan of the International Energy Agency. This would translate into recommendations to Member States to encourage teleworking, reduce speed limits on motorways and promote both public transport and car sharing. At the strategic level, to stop the bleeding in LNG prices and prevent the US from playing against Europe with Asia over shipments, the think tank Bruegel proposes a radical solution: that the EU act as a bloc and coordinate its gas purchases directly with large importers such as Japan and South Korea to avoid a bidding war. The invisible problem. To understand the complete picture, we must talk about the great bottleneck that almost no one talks about: concrete and copper. European renewable deployment is colliding with a lack of capacity in electricity networks. According to a report from the climate think tank Emberat least 120 GW of planned renewable energy projects in Europe are at risk simply because the grid cannot support them. The logjam is monumental, with almost 700 GW of renewable projects stuck in connection queues awaiting permits across European countries reporting this data. And this is not just a problem of the macro plants of large corporations; It directly affects the average citizen. According to calculations in the same report, 1.5 million European homes could face delays in being able to connect the solar panels on their roofs due to obsolete distribution networks that do not have the capacity to take on the energy. A chronic gap. The underlying problem is a chronic gap in the system itself. As pointed out EuractivEurope has changed how it generates its electricity, but it has not electrified its real economy. Cars continue to burn oil, heavy industry continues to use fossil gas and the general electrification of the economy has been stagnant for ten years. Europe has spent … Read more

Europe already has its recommendations for the latest oil crisis

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15 years later, the idea of ​​limiting the speed to 110 km/h is floating in the air again. It comes from the European Commission, an organization that has indicated what measures it recommends to countries to save fuel with a letter. It includes 10 measures that touch on all types of issues in our economic and social life. These are those aimed at mobility. What has happened? That the European Commission, through Dan Jorgensen, Commissioner for Energy, has sent a letter to the 27 with recommendations to save oil in the face of the crisis that we are already experiencing and the possibility of it extending over time, according to media such as The World either The Country. The decalogue is based on the recommendations made by the International Energy Agency, but Jorgensen has already pointed out in the press conference after the announcement that there is no general recipe for all member countries of the European Union, so it is up to each one what to apply. At 110 km/h. Perhaps one of the measures that draws the most attention to Spaniards is the 10 km/h reduction in speed. It is a measure that The Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero already applied it in 2011. That barely lasted a few months (from March 7 to July 1) and the reason was the crisis derived from the Arab springs with which the price of crude oil rose. In those days, the Brent Barrel had also exceeded $100 per unit. When the project was presented, the expected savings for one year were 1.4 billion euros and gasoline and diesel consumption was 15 and 11% lower. The measure was lifted by encrypting savings of 450 million euros During the months that the plan was active and the fuel savings were 11.4% in the case of gasoline and 7.7% in the case of diesel. Given the enormous variety of models with combustion engines, it is impossible to establish a specific saving figure by reducing speed by 10 km/h. This is certain to happen since fuel consumption increases exponentially at higher speeds if you drive in the highest possible gear. The DGT points out Driving at 110 km/h leads to savings of almost 9% in a gasoline car and around 6.5% if we talk about a diesel car. Today yes, tomorrow no. Another of the measures announced by the European Commission that governments can apply is to limit entry to cities based on the license plate number. The idea is to use the car on alternate days to get around, a measure that would boost the use of public transport and would be accompanied by the demand from Europe that teleworking be prioritized to avoid commuting. This solution has generally been applied to improve pollution rates. They are common in countries more polluted than ours. In Mexico, for example, they apply the Not Circulating Today in which the license plate number is taken into account to allow or disallow the circulation of cars. Also in countries like China it has been applied. In our country, the most famous case was that of Madrid, which with The Government of Manuela Carmena applied this protocol in 2016. The measures, in fact, are still considered to reduce pollution in the city but they have not been applied again. Flights, the fewer the better. The Energy Commissioner has also referred to flights. According to Jorgensen, we should “avoid air travel when alternatives exist” and it has been clear with who the main ones are: “reducing business flights can quickly relieve pressure on the aviation fuel market,” they state in The World. It must be taken into account that Europe has been working for a long time in reducing short-term flights, especially those lasting less than two hours, and replacing them with train travel. In fact, the commitment to connect European capitals It is a determined commitment by the Commission. Lisbon-Madrid is a good example of this. It is expected to be long. In addition to the European recommendations, it must be taken into account that Europe is releasing its oil reserves with the aim of containing fuel prices. Our country alone has released 11.5 million barrels of oil from its energy reserves. However, the crisis is expected to be long. The accounts suggest that the world is already facing a daily deficit of 8 million barrels. Oil at $200 a barrel begins to appear on the horizon. Media like Financial Times They warn that we are facing a crisis similar to that of the 70s. And Repsol already warns– Releasing oil reserves is a temporary patch. Photo | Tim D. and Rafael Garcin In Xataka | There is a silent war between “premium” and low-cost gas stations: and the most unexpected side is losing it

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