Is another major blackout on its way to Spain?

"The April 28th outage, described as Europe's severest in 20 years, halted transport, cut internet and telephone communications and plunged cities into darkness across mainland Spain and Portugal. A report by a European expert panel last week concluded that "cascading overvoltages" caused the blackout, with the findings in line with a Spanish government report in June that also blamed overvoltage. Overvoltage occurs when there is too much electrical voltage in a network, overloading equipment."

"The CNMC competition watchdog said in a document made public on Wednesday that grid operator REE had informed it of "sudden voltage variations" recorded in the past two weeks. "Although the voltages always remained within the established margins, they can potentially trigger disconnections of demand and/or generation that end up destabilising the electrical system," the CNMC said of REE's information."

"The April blackout raised doubts about Spain's high dependence on renewables and planned phaseout of nuclear energy, but the leftist government and some experts have rejected claims they exposed the power grid to a blackout. REE connected the recent fluctuations with "sudden changes in programming, in particular of renewable generation, as well as the response time of generation supplying dynamic voltage control", the CNMC said."

Spain's electricity network experienced major voltage fluctuations in recent weeks that risk triggering disconnections and destabilising the system. An April 28 outage halted transport, cut communications and plunged cities in Spain and Portugal into darkness. European and Spanish expert reports attributed the blackout to cascading overvoltages and recorded major fluctuations leading to shutdowns. Overvoltage arises from excess voltage, surges or failed protection equipment. The CNMC said grid operator REE reported sudden voltage variations within margins but potentially capable of causing disconnections. REE linked the fluctuations to sudden changes in programming of renewable generation and to the response time of dynamic voltage control.

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