Spain

The blackout in Spain has demonstrated which is the ideal means to inform in a crisis: the radio

by

In the minutes that followed the Broady in Spain and Portugal At 12:32 yesterday, millions of people They wondered The same: “What happened.” In other crises, television, newspapers and of course the Internet are the clear alternatives to find out what is happening, but yesterday that was not possible. Almost everything failed, but there was a means of communication that allowed us to keep us informed: the radio. Where is the FM radio of the mobiles. The fragility of our communications caused the radio to erect as a unique solution to keep us informed. The mobiles had support for FM radio years, but this feature has disappeared in all current models. In fact It went from being an extra desired to an exclusive function of cheaper models. Something older mobiles do have that function by connecting headphones (which bend as antenna), and that allowed those who still have any of those mobiles could be informed thanks to that functionat least while the mobile battery lasted. Some brands keep them in some models. Xiaomi is one of the manufacturers that still includes support for FM radio in some of its Redmi family models, but of course not all. He Xiaomi Redmi Note 14s or the Redmi 14c They are good examples. The normal thing is that in recent terminals we will not find that option, which we can enable in older mobiles (such as Little m5he Motorola G73 5g or the Samsung Galaxy M23 5g) and also in input range terminals and in less extended brands such as Doogee or Ulefone. Radio as informative lifeguards. Without light there was no television or wifi in houses and offices, and connect to the Internet It was an odyssey all day: Mobile lines, the only ones that could give a way out, worked irregularly … If they worked. And yet, the radio worked without apparent problems. Transistor to batteries. Meanwhile, those still kept a battery transistor at home could be informed thanks to the radio stations continued to broadcast during the blackout. These transistors became the salvation of many citizens, who either had radios in their homes or gathered in the streets around vehicles with analog radios or that could listen to the radio What other people had in the streets or on the terraces. They were also one of the products that They sold out more quickly in shops that remained active during the blackout. Why the stations continued to work. Augusto Molina and Héctor Zafra are respectively the technical director and the technical manager of the SER, and explained In a piece in this medium The way of proceeding in these emergency cases. The first thing they did was turn off monitors and all the teams that could be turned off to save to the fullest. That allowed maximizing the autonomy of emergency equipment that is used in these cases, and that were the key both in the SER chain and other stations. Electrogen equipment. These structure (motorogener) groups are machines that generate electricity through an internal combustion engine. They make use of fossil fuels (gasoline, diesel) and allow generating electricity while the fuel lasts. Are the teams that They are used in hospitals to maintain a good part of the essential services during this type of energy crisis. Several stations survived the blackout. National Radio of Spain kept for example emissions, such as They also did wave zero, the Cope chainthe aforementioned chain and other stations – although not all – and broadcasters who could continue to inform thanks to those emergency teams that were activated during the blackout. Radio as lifeguard in emergency situations. What happened yesterday has revealed the relevance of the radio as an ideal means of communication to emergencies. There have been numerous cases in the story in which that has become evident. In our country they stand out for example The coup d’etat of 23-F In Spain, in 11m or more recent attacks The Dana that ravaged the Valencian Community and that caused the majority of the electric laying. Transistors, both in one and another, allowed to remain informed. Image | Xataka In Xataka | Five annual pounds and a telephone line: how the electrophone, the “spotify” of the nineteenth century worked

In full blackout throughout Spain and confusion among the population, an alert system shone for its absence: Es-Alert

by

Yesterday we attend an unprecedented event in our country. From one moment to another and in a matter of five seconds, 60% of all energy vanisheddisappeared. The entire peninsula ran out of light. The reasons are unknown how it was unknown in certain points of Spain that the blackout had been general. The light fell, ergo the wifi. Telecommunications, mobile networks fell, and networks were saturated. Contact family and friends to know if they were fine was an odyssey, as was accessing to the media and social networks to inform themselves of the last hour. No one knew what was happening, its reach, the reasons or the state of the situation. In such a context, it is worth asking what happened to Es-alertthe emergency alert system. Who is-alert depends on. The Civil Protection alerts system was launched on February 22, 2023 and serves to send notices to all mobile phones within an affected area. It is integrated into the national alert network and, therefore, is managed by the Ministry of Interior through the National Center for Emergency Monitoring and Coordination (CENEM) of the General Directorate of Civil Protection. Notice example received through the ES-Alert system | Image: mobile xataka This system is known as “112 inverse” and is available in “any part of the Spanish territory with mobile telephony coverage, either 2G (GSM), 3G (UMTS), 4G (LTE) or 5G”, as They explained from Moncloa The day of its launch. Civil protection, meanwhile, exposes that “the ES-ALErt system is available to the Emergency Coordination Centers of the Autonomous Communities in the framework of the National Civil Protection System” and that these centers, together with the aforementioned CENEM, are the “responsible, within their area of ​​competence, to define and issue the alerts when the situation requires it.” In a nutshell, that competition falls to the Autonomous Communities. What situations is used? According to Moncloa, Es-Alert is designed for phenomena such as “floods, fires, adverse meteorological phenomena, volcanic or chemical accidents, among other emergencies.” The question is what happens to this system when there is no electricity, when telecommunications are falling and a very high percentage of the population has no coverage. A mobile will not receive the notice if it has no coverage or is in plane mode, although it will do so when you recover the signal The networks worked (a time). The mobile network remained active for a while thanks, in part, emergency generators. VodafoneMasorange and Telefónica They have confirmed that although the blackout had affected telecommunications services and the mobile network, part of the system had supply thanks to electric generators and batteries. Es -Elert depends on that infrastructure to work, the question is whether it would have been effective. Lights and shadows. While it is true that Es-Alert is practically agnostic to the device and the version of the operating system, its effectiveness depends on the fact that there is electricity and that the receiving phones have coverage. Assuming that the ES-Alert system was available (because as we already know, there was no electricity supply), the reality is that an important thickness of the population would not have received the warning at the time because it did not have coverage. They would have received it when recovering the signal in the event that the emergency remained active in the area, but there is no guarantees that, by then, the notice would have been useful. Image | Fré Sonneveld Social networks. Public entities and organizations, which They urged the user to save battery and limit the use of mobilethey made their official communications through social networks such as X. Access not only to this social network, but to the media that echoed this information, it was not always possible due to the lack of coverage and mobile data network. The always eternal radio. The best informed citizen yesterday was the one who had a ancient operational radio thanks to two AA batteries. The radio works independently that there is coverage, mobile network or wifi. Emergency equipment They do not communicate by Walkie-Talkies By custom, but because in a fire in which everything has fallen, the radio will continue to function. If the broadcaster and the receiving device work, there is communication, and that is what happened precisely yesterday. The radios continued to function and counting the last hour of the blackout, which shows that an invention of the late nineteenth century is still important in the middle of 2025. Cover image | Pere Jury In Xataka | Cercanías, Media and Long Distance, High Speed ​​and Metro: This is the situation of trains in Spain after the blackout

Why the fall of telecommunications was so unequal during the blackout in Spain

by

Spain plunged yesterday into a unprecedented energy blackout. A complete fall of the national electricity grid that caused problems in essential services and, above all … communications. A few hours after the Energy zero throughout All Spanish territoryoperators such as Vodafone Spain kept active 70% of their mobile network. The question is how. How the network was kept alive. Despite the national blackout, Some operators like Vodafone They made their mobile network remain active thanks to reserve generators. Although popular perception may be that the network connection is a purely wireless technology, it depends completely on telephone stations (what we commonly know as antennas), some that need electricity to function. Before scenarios such as yesterday, all protocols were activated to keep them alive despite the disconnection with the national electricity grid. This was achieved thanks to two main actors: backup batteries and structure. Diesel and batteries. Groups such as Masmobic confirm Xataka that this maintenance of the network infrastructure was achieved thanks to its reserve generators located in the stations themselves, but also to displaced electrogen groups to each area. In Spain, the Low voltage electrotechnical regulation (REBT) It demands support systems in critical infrastructure. Image | Vodafone The autonomy of these systems is limited and variable. That a station can be fed for more or less time depends on the state of the batteries, the capacity of the generators and the logistics of the fuel supply. In the best case, structures can keep the service for 24-48 hours. If we talk about reserve batteries, autonomy usually ranges between two and eight hours. This is the main reason why Some networks continued to work after the blackout and also for which others began to fail after a few hours. A progressive fall. Vodafone managed to exceed 70% activity in the network at 3:00 p.m., maintaining autonomy in its network, datacentes and systems control centers. As the hours were advancing, the figure fell. At 23: 00h, mobile traffic fell to 60% with 50% of active nodes. Reason? After more than ten hours of blackout, some of the reserve batteries began to run out. Why I had no coverage and my neighbor yes. During the blackout, access to the mobile network was (and remains) variable, and this is due to several factors. The main is the difference in backup feed systems (SAI or generators) that have mobile phone antennas. Not all base stations have the same capacity to continue working without electricity supply: some have batteries with little autonomy, other generators that require fuel (diesel or gas), and their availability and maintenance vary. In the same way, Not all operators use the same infrastructure. Each company has its own (or rented) towers and nodes, which means that two mobiles can be connected to different antennas even being in the same area. Thus, it is possible that the antenna of your operator has stopped working before, while that of your neighbor – with another operator – remains active longer. The small operators. Vodafone proved to live up to 70% of the coverage, but smaller companies, with fewer nodes to connect and lower capacity to supply energy, faced a more complex situation. The so -called virtual mobile operators (OMV) “As Digi, Finetwork, Pepephone, Lowi, etc.,” do not have their own infrastructure. Instead, they rent access to the networks of the greats (Movistar, Orange or Vodafone). The immediate translation is that its operation depends completely on the conditions of the wholesale operator in each area. If the antenna to which a user of a secondary operator connects does not have sufficient support, or if your host network prioritizes other services, the user runs out of coverage more quickly and for longer. How long would they last before chaos. Telecommunications networks can survive without electricity supply for a limited time, but are not designed to resist prolonged blackouts. In the best of the scenarios, with well -supplied structures and batteries in good condition, some stations could be kept operational between 24 and 48 hours. Beyond that threshold, everything depends on the operator’s logistics capacity to replenish fuel. In that scenario, the first to run out of coverage would be users connected to secondary nodes or small operators, while critical or priority areas (hospitals, security forces, command centers) could maintain connection for longer thanks to emergency protocols. Image | Telefónica In Xataka | Neither trains, nor light, nor computers: the most chaotic working day will not have salary sales or dismissals for not going to work

This is the situation of trains in Spain after the blackout

by

Lost trains in the middle of nowhere (No chance of rescue three of them still at night), all completely stopped nearby services and the large cities collapsed in traffic shot at the lack of mobility in the suburban. The blackout that the April 28, 2025 In Spain he left us without trains and still, despite having recovered almost the entire electricity grid, the rail service continues to present some holes. This is what we know, what works, what does not work and how much we hope to return to normal. Half -gas trains With the generalized blackout yesterday, the Spanish rail system was completely stopped. To shelter travelers, the main Spanish train stations remained open at night although even this was not enough since Some people were out of them covered all capacity. Cercanías services With Renfe’s last update at eight in the morning, the situation is as follows. Lines that work normally or partially: The Cercanías de Asturias and Cantabria lines work normally. Madrid Cercanías: 50% planned service in all lines and in the C5 recovered between Humanes and Atocha and the sections between Pinto and Aranjuez and Guadalajara-Alcalá de Henares, which will not circulate from the beginning. Valencia Cercanías: 100% planned service in C2 lines from Valencia to Xàtiva and C6, without tension in the C1 in the section between chair and gandía. Suspended services: Rodalies in Catalonia The nearby Alicante, Zaragoza, Cádiz, Sevilla, Malaga, Bilbao and San Sebastián do not work. Medium and long distance and high speed services The following services do not work: Avant and Media Distance Services in Andalusia Medium distance and Alvia services in Extremadura High performance services of Ourense-Santiago de Compostela-Coruña and Vigo-Santiago de Compostela-Coruña. Avant service from Toledo Connections between Medina del Campo and Salamanca Metric width between Ferrol – Ortigueira and León – Guard. The following high -speed and long distance lines are working since the beginning of the service: Madrid-Barcelona. Madrid-Valencia/Murcia/Alicante. Madrid-País Vasco. Madrid-algeciras. Malaga-Granada Madrid-Asturias Madrid-Santander Madrid-Córdoba Madrid-Seville Lines that should recover normality throughout the day: Lines without service and without forecast to recover them until new notice: Madrid-Huelva. Madrid-Badajoz. Madrid-Cádiz. Madrid-Galicia. Madrid-Salamanca. Madrid-Logroño. Barcelona-Aliante (Euromed). Basque-Barcelona country. Renfe points out that affected travelers can request the return of the ticket or the change without cost in the Renfe sales channels. To make a trip, the passenger will be able to go to the stations and look for a way to comply with one of the available squares. Metro services As for the operation of trains in the Metro network of the big cities, the situation is as follows: Private services Iro has announced that has recovered normality in the services provided in the corridors of Madrid-Valencia and Madrid-Barcelona. Photo | Xataka In Xataka | The blackout has caused important smoke in several Spanish refineries: it is a sign that security systems have worked

Why half Spain still does not light at home, and will continue like this time

by

From 12.33 this Monday, A massive blackout seriously affect Spain and Portugal. In his appearance, Pedro Sánchez explained that what Spanish Electric Electricity technicians communicate is that “15 gigawatts (GW) of generation have suddenly lost, in just five seconds.” Something that, he said, “had never happened.” It is equivalent, it has mentioned, 60% of the country’s demand at that time. Nevertheless, The Government still does not explain the causes behind the trigger of the blackout. In this sense, a Portuguese electric operator has indicated as the origin of the problem to an “induced atmospheric vibration”a strange phenomenon produced by extreme temperature variations inside the peninsula. In the absence of official confirmation, the possible consequence behind this would be A 0.15 Hz drop on the electrical frequencythat Normally on the European network it is fixed at 50 Hzas we can see in Grid radar. And, while in Spain Red Electrica estimated to recover the service “between 6 and 10 hours”, the Portuguese operator was more pessimistic, stating that “recovering normality could take up to a week.” At 22:30, 10 hours after the blackout, Red Electrica has announced that it has recovered 48.2% of the estimated demand for this time. Let’s see what is behind the “black start” or “autogenous start”, the process of restarting the electrical system, so complicated so that the deadlines can be extended so much. “It has to be done slowly” Click to go to the publication. As Red Electrica explained in one of the first communications, we are facing an “exceptional and extraordinary” event that had never happened. Something like this is not common in the world, like Simon Gallagher explainsEnglish electrical engineer with 20 years in the electrical networks sector: “I do not think that a re -energyization of such a large network with such a high penetration of solar energy (PV) has never been made before.” To this is the electrical analyst John Kemp, who He pointed out that: “No one has ever tried a black start in a network as dependent on renewables as Iberia. The limited number of thermal generators will make it difficult to restore speed and frequency control.” And there is an added difficulty. Although we should be prepared for what the weather events can bring, Gallagher points out that Most emergency plans are elaborated by raising situations where gas or coal plants are the protagonistsand without the relevance of renewables in our network. Gallagher commented in the context of acquaintances that they are writing surprised by how long it takes to return normality to electrical infrastructure. According to this engineer, The slow recovery makes all the meaningbecause there are many critical factors to handle in the resolution. First, you have to operate with great care, spending a lot of time identifying which parts of the system are as they should: which are turned off, which ones lit, what damaged equipment, etc. And it is a process that must be done manually. Islands. The second key is that You have to reactivate the system little by little, in stages. The re -energization process requires controlling that each part that adds to the system works correctly. And that, despite what can be thought of in full 2025, often requires that engineers physically move to the substations to do something as simple as closing or opening a switch manually. When starting, you have to gradually reactivate the different areas of the country as if they were “islands”, that is, small networks isolated from each other. In the case of Spain, Red Eléctrica has some of these islands are the axes Aragon-Cataluña, Galicia-León or Duero-France. If they connect a lot very fast, These islands can saturate the generators and fall. The process, Gallagher explains, is complicated coming from a general blackout, because the load for the generators will be huge by being turned off. For the islands to integrate with others, they must be synchronized with each other, establishing that they work at the same frequency and voltage. This, again, requires extreme care and is expensive in time. Related to this is the speed at which the energy must be introduced to the network, then If very fast, the electrical system can be destabilized again (A sudden variation in frequency is what would have produced the first fall) altering negatively the 50 Hz to which the network must operate normally. The Iberian case is peculiar. A problem that Gallagher points out of our system is that solar energy does not inertia, in the sense that it does not help stabilize the frequency, indispensable requirement, or to start nets that are disconnected. We must then resort to alternatives such as gas and coal centrals, which have to start without help from others, and that is a slow and expensive process in resources. Another added problem, and that lengthens recovery is that The batteries of the substations, which are doing their job from the blackout, begin to run out. That means that, as we said before, they cannot be energized remotely, and it is problematic even if physical displacements occur to them, because base energy is needed for protection systems to work. How is the “Black Start in Spain” From the beginning of the problem, Spain has worked to work with the authorities of France and Moroccowho have collaborated to help re -Energify the areas of the south and north of the Iberian Peninsula. According to Red Eléctrica, together with this foreign aid, Spain has had a group of hydroelectric plants with the ability to start autonomously, without help from others, as we explained before. In doing so, they have begun to be coupled to the network, growing the aforementioned islands. At this time, according to the company, and According to the worldthere are no islands left. “ Image | Alexandru Boicu In Unspash In Xataka |

The blackout in Spain raised the possibility of a cyber attack. The EU rules out

by

He General blackout throughout Spain has caused great uncertainty about the potential causes of this “Energy zero”. One of those that are considered is that of a possible cyber attack, and agencies such as the National or Incibe Cryptological Center are investigating that option, they point out in the SER or In the country. In the last decade there has only been a great case of this type. The EU discards cyber attack. As media point out Like the worldTeresa Ribera, executive vice president for the clean, fair and competitive transition, has indicated that “there is nothing that allows us to affirm that there is some kind of boycott or cyber attack.” In his appearance before the media, Pedro Sánchez stressed that the causes of the incident are not yet known and does not rule out any option. Few outstanding cases. On December 23, 2016, the Ivano-Frankivsk region, in southwest Ukraine, He suffered a blackout as a consequence of a coordinated cyber attack that affected three of the main Ukrainian electricity companies in the region. The problem affected tens of thousands of people for a period between three and six hours. The following year a more sophisticated cyber attack caused a blackout again that affected kyiv residents, also in Ukraine. The country has been affected by blackouts after the Russian invasion after the attacks of Sandworm, a cybercrime unit associated with Russian intelligence, indicated in Tarlogic. But having them, there are. In November 2023, a series of coordinated cyber attacks affected the Denmark Energy Sectoralthough there were no blackouts but data theft. Tarlogic experts highlighted how these types of problems have increased. None, yes, has affected an almost complete country, as would have happened in this case. Usual suspects. In June 2019 A great blackout It affected 48 million people in Argentina and Uruguay. At that time there were suspicions of a potential cyberraade as the cause of the problems, but the Argentine government Indian that the cut was due to a failure in one of the transport systems from one of its hydroelectric plants in Yacryátá. It is therefore relatively frequent to associate such an event with a potential cybersecurity problem. And then, Stuxnet. What we know is how eeuu and Israel created Stuxnet malware In the second half of the 2000s. This malware managed to damage Iran’s critical infrastructures, specifically Its nuclear power plants And that showed that certain cyber attacks can be directed to critical infrastructure. The possibility is there. As they pointed out in 2019 in El Confidencial, Spain in fact already tried to prepare for this type of event. Experts like Rubén Santamarta They had warned of that risk already in 2011. During the blackout the National Cryptological Center (CNI) has indicated that the blackout could be a consequence of a cyber attack, According to the reason. Spain usually receives threats of this type. The National Center for Infrastructure and Cybersecurity Protection (CNPIC), under the Ministry of Interior, indicated in El Confidencial In 2019 that there were already “attempts at illicit accesses to this type of infrastructure.” From the country They pointed out a few months ago how Spain receives about 40,000 daily threats of diverse type. One more option, but just that. There are no data that can point to a cyber attack and therefore although the possibility is there, there is no confirmation. The blackout is exceptional and extraordinary, as indicated by Red Electrica and Spanish, which of course is also investigating what the origin of the problem has been. Image | Markus Spiske In Xataka | Another prequel of the ‘great blackout’: the solar storm that shook the world the 660 AC today would have very serious consequences

The precedent closest to the great blackout of Spain was lived in 2003. And it also began in the interconnected network

by

Few events show our electricity dependence as a mass blackout. And few blackouts have been as extensive as the one that has affected all of Spain today. But there is a precedent of similar characteristics that still remember in neighboring Italy: the great blackout of 2003. The day Italy was dark. On September 28, 2003, practically all the Italians (57 million people) were left without light. The ruling began in the Swiss Alps, demonstrating, as has happened today, the fragility of interconnected networks. It all started at 3:01 in the morning in a high voltage line that crosses the passage of Lukmanier, between Switzerland and Italy. A storm whipped the area. According to subsequent investigations, the branch of a tree hit the wiring, causing a short circuit and its automatic disconnection. It all started with a tree. The fall of a tree should not have been catastrophic. Electrical networks are designed with redundancies to avoid it. However, the demand for energy in Italy at that time was high, and the country depended significantly on the imports of electricity in Switzerland and France. The loss of the Lukmanier line increased the load on the other interconnections. In less than half an hour, a second crucial line, that of the Paso de San Bernardino, also failed. The exact reasons were subject to dispute (Switzerland said there were overloads not communicated by Italy, Italy blamed Swiss management), but the result was overwhelming: Italy lost suddenly a huge capacity to import energy and went out. The domino effect. At 3:27 am, the country remained dark. The almost simultaneous loss of these two great energy arteries had been too much for the Italian network. The frequency of the network began to fall dangerously below 50 Hz, and automatic protection systems, designed to avoid higher damage to generators and equipment, began acting in cascade. Electric centrals throughout Italy began to automatically disconnect from the network to protect themselves. This self -defense mechanism, however, aggravated the problem: the more centrals they disconnected, the greater the imbalance between the remaining little generation and demand, accelerating the collapse. In a matter of minutes, the Italian electricity grid was completely fragmented and collapsed. The blackout affected the entire Italian Peninsula, from the Alps to Sicily. The exception? The Island of Sardinia, which has an independent power grid and not connected to the continental system (as the Canary Islands here), as well as some small border areas that received a direct supply of neighboring countries. The biggest blackout in the history of Italy. The blackout surprised Italy in the early morning of Sunday. Although this mitigated the initial chaos compared to the blackout of Spain (fewer people in public transport, in factories, locked in elevators), the impact was deep and durable throughout the day. Thousands of passengers were also trapped in trains in the middle of nowhere. Hospitals and emergency services activated their diesel generators, but the situation tested their abilities. The meters of cities like Rome and Milan stopped working. The traffic lights went out, complicating traffic. Although many mobile phone antennas had batteries, overload affected communications in some areas. In Rome, the blackout coincided with the “Notte Bianca”, the annual night in which museums open, there are concerts and night activities. Everything was interrupted, plunging thousands of citizens in unexpected darkness. The lack of electricity lasted for hours. A delicate recovery. Restore the electricity supply after a total collapse (the now famous start From energy zero) It is not as simple as pressing a switch. Italy showed that it is a slow, complex and gradual process. Many of the large thermal plants needed external energy to start their own auxiliary systems. As the centrals generate energy again, they have to synchronize perfectly in frequency and voltage with the incipient network. An error can cause new disconnections. Demand must gradually reintroduce as the generation increases. Connect too fast load can overload the newly restored network and cause another collapse. It is a delicate dance between supply and demand. Between four and 18 hours. For these reasons, the recovery was unequal. The regions of northern Italy, closer to European interconnections and with greater capacity for their own generation, began to recover electricity in about 3-4 hours. However, the center and south, especially Sicily, took much more. Some areas remained without electricity for 18 hours or more. Finally, electricity was restored block to block, city to city, in a process that extended during almost all of Sunday. The Italian blackout of 2003 remains a case study on the complexity and fragility of our energy infrastructure. A reminder that small events like a fallen tree can turn off a whole country. Image | Victor Romero (Flickr, CC BY-C-SA 2.0) In Xataka | What is the “energy zero” and why the supply can go suddenly but it takes hours to recover

This is what he estimates that I take Spain to recover from an “extraordinary” blackout

by

The press conference offered by Red Electrica (Ree) has allowed us to know the status of the situation after the general blackout that we have suffered in Spain. And above all, the time that the blackout is expected. “Between six and ten hours”. Those responsible have explained how the complete replacement of the system in all parts of the country could carry “between six and ten hours.” The estimate comes from simulations carried out above and also from the experience collected in blackouts that have occurred in other countries in the past. How Ree proceeds after the blackout. After the incident due to a collapse of tension in all the knots of the network, they explained in Ree, the essential thing is “Replace the different elements of generation and the transport network with tension so that when the stations obtain tension, it spreads through the different networks and start the propagation of tension.” Restitution has already begun. As indicated in Spanish Electricity, it has been possible to recover tension in areas near the borders with Portugal and Morocco, and both in the Catalonia area and the Basque Country is spreading tension to reach the transport stations. A gradual process. In the southern zone and center, tension has also been recovered at some points. This replacement process will be progressive in the different areas, they explain from Red Electrica and once it is possible to recover the tension in all transport regions, the supply to consumers can be replaced. An “exceptional and extraordinary” event. In Spanish Electric Electricity indicate that an incident of these characteristics had never happened and that “it is an exceptional and extraordinary incident.” They have insisted that they are focused on recovering the supply as soon as possible, and they have also highlighted that there are detailed prepared plans that indicate how to proceed and what steps continue to this type of problem. Unknown causes. In Spanish Electric Red have not given information about the causes of this general blackout. When asked about a potential cyber attack, government representatives have indicated that there is no record about the causes of the incident and “we cannot enter to speculate.” Image | Pere Jury In Xataka | The mass blackout is also affecting transport: Renfe informs of detainees and Aena of incidents

There is so much energy available in Spain right now that it is allowing you to become an export power

by

The Spanish electrical system has achieved a milestone by covering 100% electric demand with renewable energy. However, this surplus of clean energy has led to the phenomenon Curtailment to maintain the stability of the network. Even so, it has been possible to export more than ever electricity to neighboring countries. Renewable boom. In the last three years, Spain has added more than 23,000MW new wind and photovoltaic power. According to the latest monthly renewable APPA report to which has had Pvmagazine access, this impulse has translated into record exports of 1.536GWh, which represents an increase of 84.4% compared to last year. The data has detailed a clear pattern of energy surplus. France received 1,388 GWH of Spanish electricity, while barely exported 197 GWh to our country. With Portugal the exchange was more balanced, but equally favorable: 775 GWh exported compared to 619 GWh imported. The most striking case is that of Morocco, where Spain sold seven times more energy than it bought, specifically 197 GWh against only 27 GWh received. In economic terms. The export has generated approximately 81.4 million euros in a single month, calculated on the basis of the average price of 53.09 euros per megavatio registered hour In the OMIE daily market. This figure acquires greater relevance if we consider that Spain already accumulates 41 consecutive months as a net exporter of electricity, a streak that coincides precisely with the period of greater renewable expansion in its history. Was he planned? Although there is no explicit plan to turn Spain into an energy exporter, the latest promotion policies that pass subsidies and Changing permissions They have created a structural surplus. The authorities already work to optimize surplus management, avoiding the Curtailment (cuts in renewable generation) and prioritizing export when production exceeds national demand. A lot of export … and import? The European electrical system, It is highly interconnectedbut still with improvement margin. There is an important exception: current exports do not equal energy “savings” for the future. The market operates in real time, with prices that constantly fluctuate according to the supply and demand of each moment. And another inevitable question. Why don’t the price of light fall in Spain? As mentioned above, the average price of electricity stood at € 53.09/MWh, which is 161.8% more than last year. This apparent contradiction is explained by The Marginalist Price Fixing Systemwhere the most expensive technology necessary at all times – generally the combined cycle plants that work with gas – establish the price for all. Thus, although the renewables produce at very low costs (about € 12/MWh on average), their cheaper is limited by the still necessary presence of gas in the mix, whose average time price reached € 61/MWh in the last month. There is still a long way. Although there is a great renewable capacity, you also have to think about ways of Store the surplusthink about Intelligent networks with Europe and rethink a long -term sustainable marginalist model. This commitment to Spain for a more sustainable model has positioned the country as an important actor in the European energy market. The challenge is now to convert this technical success to benefits for the national economy and the pocket of consumers. Image | Pacoqt Xataka | After roofs and balconies, railings: the solar panels have been determined to conquer every building span

Spain made the subsidies covered to Ryanair an art. Now another country follows its path: Morocco

by

Ryanair will stop offering 800,000 places This summer of 2025 in Spain. It was an announcement that fell like a bomb in the middle of the dispute that government and airline have open in relation to the rates that Aena charges the companies that operate in their airports. According to Ryanair, Las Aena rates They are abusive and from the company that manages Spanish airports they defend themselves ensuring that they are essential to guarantee, among other services, the security or cleaning of the facilities. The problem is that Aena had these frozen rates from 2021 and thus had to remain until 2026. However, last year they rose and although The CNMC frozen the rate againnow companies pay 4.9% more than before. In the middle of the dispute, Ryanair was also fined by the State for breaching, in his opinion, the regulations of the hand luggage. Together with other low-cost companies such as Vueling, Norweigan, Easyjet or Volotea, the Irish company was punished but it was also the one that took the worst part: a sanction of 107.78 million euros. This cluster of circumstances led the company to press where it hurts the most in Spanish air mobility: Provinces airports. Ryanair announced that he partially abandoned the airports of Vigo, Santiago, Zaragoza, Asturias and Santander. But, above all, he announced that he was completely left by Jerez and Valladolid. The movement has not been there because In its February statementRyanair already announced that he considered taking action in the same direction if the context did not change. A threat that has recently reiterated. However, then Eddie Wilson, his CEO, already pointed out that “Aena’s decision not to encourage airlines to use the missed capacity of their regional airports has forced Ryanair to relocate aircraft and capacity in more competitive European markets, such as Italy, Sweden, Croatia, Hungary and Morocco, where governments encourage actively growth. “ Now we check the consequences. Empty seats “Ryanair’s airplanes They will attend where there is business opportunity, whether by direct market or by public subsidy. “This is how Víctor P. currás summarizes in The Faro de Vigo The situation with which they have been found in the Galician city with the 61% reduction of the activity of the Irish company in its city. When Wilson pointed out that they would fly to countries “where governments incentive” did not lie. Ryanair has closed a line between Vigo and Barcelona that maintained an average occupation of 90% in favor of a New route to Morocco where just 9% of the seats are busy. These flights are those corresponding to the route that Ryanair has opened with origin in Madrid or Lanzarote and destination Daklha, a Moroccan city in the Sahara that is trying to promote itself as an active tourism. It is another measure within a project you want Transform the city into an economic complex reference in the area. The intention is to turn the city into a showcase for the world during the 2030 World Cup (What Morocco shares with Spain). This is the reason why Ryanair flies with such a low occupation to the Moroccan city. Fatim-Zahra Ammor, Minister of Tourism of Morocco, announced the arrival of the company A few months ago. Behind, obviously, a juicy subsidy in the form of an advertising contract for Ryanair. They collect in the Galician environment that the occupation rate has been poor. The best data has arrived from Madrid with just over 50% occupation. However, the reserved places have been deflating on the Route of Lanzarote to the point of not even reaching 10% of the total offer. This way of acting is nothing less new. In fact, in eldiario.es They explained well that the subsidies camouflaged as advertising contracts to keep the routes in provincial airports alive are a constant for years. By suppuerto, Ryanair has benefited in this way to act. Three examples. The Cantabria government delivered 18 million euros in public promotion to Ryanair. Vigo maintained a route with London in exchange for a disbursement of 625,000 euros in the form of an advertising contract. With the suppression of this connection, Vigo wants sanction the airline with more than 17,000 euros for breaking the contract unilaterally. In 2019, Ryanair maintained routes in Spain by value of 239 million euros of public moneyaccording to ELECONOMIST. Ryanair now applies in Morocco the same formula he has applied in Spain. The company has used Spanish airports in the provinces to press and, aware that New aircraft will not reach them In the short term, these advertising contracts are especially juicy when reorganizing their routes. Photo | Nastya Dulhiier In Xataka | Ryanair does not “fine” if you lose your flight: simply relieved you in the following for a cost of 100 euros

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.