Spain’s devastating nationwide blackout on April 28 was preceded by warnings about the instability caused by solar power surges, according to leaked recordings of conversations between Red Eléctrica (REE) and electricity operators.
Just 46 minutes before the blackout, an REE technician admitted the problem stemmed from solar energy “coming in and out” of the system due to price and adjustment issues. The blackout struck at 12:33 p.m., plunging large parts of the country into darkness and exposing critical vulnerabilities in Spain’s energy infrastructure.
The recordings, obtained by Informativos Telecinco, also show that REE had been aware of system instability for days. In a conversation on April 16—twelve days before the outage—REE officials acknowledged to an operator that “everything is very unstable” due to a lack of nuclear power, adding that the issue “wasn’t just a one-off.”
By April 26, concerns shifted to the growing impact of renewables. “We’re seeing a lot of voltage oscillations,” one operator reported. The REE response was clear: “Yes, it’s due to the photovoltaic [solar] issue.”
Despite widespread public concern, with 74% of Spaniards believing another blackout is possible, few have taken any preventative measures.
