Reacción a "Massive power outage on the Iberian peninsula leaves millions without power supply"

How do you explain that something like this has happened?

‘It is a combination of incidents in the electricity grid. A succession of cascading or joint factors that have caused the collapse of voltages in the grid. It is still too early to know the causes and we will have to wait for official information from Red Eléctrica de España. This type of combination of factors is highly improbable in a grid as strong, as robust and as reliable as the Spanish and European electricity grid, despite the fact that paradoxically today we have had this failure’.

Was it unlikely to happen?

‘The European electricity system, and the Spanish one within it, are enormously robust and a failure like the one that happened today is enormously unlikely. The system works by being prepared for the worst possible failure at all times, so an event like today's must be multifactorial, something caused by many critical events in conjunction. Despite this, the system knows what to do in these cases and the restoration of the system is being carried out as expected’.

Why has this happened on the Spanish mainland, and is it a more vulnerable region in Europe?

‘Spain (or rather the Spain-Portugal peninsular electricity system), due to its low interconnection capacity with the rest of Europe (only a small interconnection with France), is considered in many cases an isolated energy system. This makes it more vulnerable to a combination of events such as the one we have experienced today, despite the fact that an energy zero is highly improbable.

Could it happen again in the next few days, and in the medium term?

‘In the short, medium and long term, this type of event is very unlikely to happen again because of the above. The fact that the system is being properly restored means that the system is under control and we can continue to rely on the very high quality standards of the electricity grid’.

What needs to change so that it doesn't happen again?

‘Without a doubt, analysing the causes of this event will help us to ensure that it does not happen again in the future. For this we must wait for the official report from the system operator (Red Eléctrica de España). From what we are seeing today in the system's replenishment, relying more on renewables, and establishing new grid operation protocols and procedures that include renewables more in the active participation of grid management, is crucial to continue building one of the most reliable and robust grids in the world, as we already are’.