Miscalculation by Spanish power grid operator REE contributed to massive blackout, report finds
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Miscalculation by Spanish power grid operator REE contributed to massive blackout, report finds
Spanish grid operator REE’s (REDE.MC) failure to calculate the correct mix of energy was one of the factors hindering the grid’s ability to cope with a surge in voltage. Some conventional power plants, such as nuclear and gas-fired plants, failed to help maintain an appropriate voltage level in the power system. The government said on Tuesday it would propose measures to strengthen the grid and improve its ability to control voltage in the system. It would also push to further integrate the peninsula with the European grid, it said. The probe pointed to grid instability earlier that morning, which led to the blackout in Spain and Portugal on April 28. The report also blames power generators for the worst-ever blackout to have hit the Iberian Peninsula, which caused gridlock in cities and left thousands stranded in trains and lifts. It was made public on Tuesday by Spain’s Energy Minister Sara Aagesen in a press briefing in Madrid. She said: “The system did not have sufficient voltage control capabilities”
Item 1 of 2 Friends greet each other on an illuminated shopping street, the day after a sudden major blackout in the Iberian Peninsula, in Ronda, Spain April 29, 2025. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
Summary
Companies REE did not have enough thermal power stations switched on when surge occurred
Some conventional power plants failed to help control voltage in the power system
Blackout on April 28 caused gridlock in cities and left thousands stranded in trains and lifts
MADRID, June 17 (Reuters) – Spanish grid operator REE’s (REDE.MC) , opens new tab failure to calculate the correct mix of energy was one of the factors hindering the grid’s ability to cope with a surge in voltage that led to the massive blackout across Spain and Portugal on April 28, a government investigation concluded.
The report, made public on Tuesday, also blames power generators for the worst-ever blackout to have hit Spain and Portugal, since some conventional power plants, such as nuclear and gas-fired plants, failed to help maintain an appropriate voltage level in the power system that day.
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“The system did not have sufficient voltage control capabilities,” Spanish Energy Minister Sara Aagesen told a news briefing in Madrid.
“Either because they were not sufficiently programmed, or because those that were programmed did not adequately provide what was required by the standard, or a combination of both,” she said.
While several factors played a role that day, Aagesen confirmed that the ultimate cause was a surge in voltage that the grid was unable to absorb. It triggered a cascade of disconnections of generation.
Voltage surges can be caused by multiple factors ranging from lightning strikes, faulty equipment, or grid instability. The probe pointed to grid instability earlier that morning.
PLANNING AND PLANTS’ SHORTCOMINGS
REE, which is partly state-owned, did not have enough thermal power stations switched on when the voltage surge caused a chain reaction leading to the power outage, Aagesen said.
REE “told us that they made their calculations and estimated that (switching on more thermal plants) was not necessary at this time. They only set it for the early hours of the day, not the central hours.”
Power plants “should have controlled voltage and, moreover, many of them were economically remunerated to do so. They did not absorb all the reactive power that was expected,” Aagesen said.
Utilities lobby Aelec, which represents Spain’s main electricity companies including Iberdrola (IBE.MC) , opens new tab and Endesa (ELE.MC) , opens new tab , said in a statement it agreed that voltage control was the main cause of the outage, adding that “the responsibility for ensuring such control lies with” REE as system operator.
It has evidence that the power plants controlled by the companies it represents “have complied with the regulatory requirements regarding voltage control” even “operating above the regulatory obligations” to help stabilise grid.
Despite having sufficient resources to guarantee voltage control, REE “opted to manage voltage with limited synchronous capacity and an unbalanced geographical distribution, which left the system in a vulnerable situation,” it said.
REE did not immediately reply to requests for comment. Its chairman will hold a press conference on Wednesday.
The government said on Tuesday it would propose measures to strengthen the grid and improve its ability to control voltage in the system. It would also push to further integrate the peninsula with the European grid, it said.
Pratheeksha Ramdas, Senior New Energies Analyst and Iberia power market expert at Rystad Energy said the incident highlighted the essential role thermal power plants, especially gas-fired plants continued to play.
“It appears that the blackout reflects a critical failure in the Spanish electricity system not due to lack of installed capacity but due to mismanagement of available energy resources and accountability in grid operations,” Ramdas said.
Reporting by Inti Landauro, David Latona and Pietro Lombardi; Additional reporting by Corina Pons; Writing by Charlie Devereux; Editing by David Evans, Tomasz Janowski and Sandra Maler
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France’s Macron: Iran nuclear programme was close to a critical stage
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that information France had on the Iranian nuclear programme was most concerning. He said the programme was close to a critical stage. Macron said France did not recommend attacking Iran’s nuclear sites.
PARIS, June 13 (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that information France had on the Iranian nuclear programme was most concerning, adding that the programme was close to a critical stage.
Macron, speaking at a news conference, said France did not recommend attacking Iran’s nuclear sites, saying there was still a “diplomatic route” to resolve the issue.
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Reporting by Michel Rose and Benoit Van Overstraeten Editing by Gareth Jones
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France’s Macron: US has made offer for Israel-Iran ceasefire
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump had made an offer for a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Macron: “An offer was made especially to get a ceasefire and to then kick-start broader discussions”
France’s President Emmanuel Macron attends a bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (not pictured), at the G7 summit, in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, June 16, 2025. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett/Pool/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab
“There is indeed an offer to meet and exchange. An offer was made especially to get a ceasefire and to then kick-start broader discussions,” Macron told reporters at the G7.
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“We have to see now whether the sides will follow.”
Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Jacqueline Wong
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US-Russian talks to take place in Moscow, Russian envoy says
“The recovery of Russian-American relations is still a long way off,” says Russia’s new ambassador to Washington. Talks between the United States and Russia on resolving issues in their bilateral relations will move to Moscow from Istanbul. The war in Ukraine triggered the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the depths of the Cold War.
MOSCOW, June 11 (Reuters) – Talks between the United States and Russia on resolving issues in their bilateral relations will move to Moscow from Istanbul, Russia’s new ambassador to Washington told the state TASS news agency.
“The recovery of Russian-American relations is still a long way off,” Ambassador Alexander Darchiev told TASS, adding that the rapprochement with Moscow was being slowed by the so-called U.S. “deep state” and anti-Russian “hawks” in Congress.
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“I can confirm that the next negotiations of the delegations will take place in the very near future in Moscow,” Darchiev was quoted as saying.
The war in Ukraine triggered the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the depths of the Cold War. Senior diplomats in both Moscow and Washington told Reuters in 2024 that they could not recall relations ever being worse.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump casts the Ukraine conflict as a proxy war between the United States and Russia, and Trump has repeatedly warned of the risk of it escalating into a world war.
Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge
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Madrid’s ghost towns revived as Spain’s housing crisis escalates
Middle-class families arrive, construction restarts in Sesena. Town still lacks good transport links or a nearby hospital. Spain built 128,000 homes last year compared to 866,000 in 2006. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has made providing affordable homes one of his main goals – even as he encourages population growth through immigration. The size of the challenge is clear in Madrid, which grew by 140,000 people in 2024, but only registered permits to build 20,000 new homes.”The problem is that we can’t match supply and demand quickly enough. So prices go up, or people have to trade price for distance,” said Carles Vergara, a real estate professor at IESE Business School in Madrid. “Sesena is at 100%,” said Jaime de Hita, the town’s mayor. “We chose it because we can afford it,” said Nestor Delgado, 34, who bought a house with his wife for 240,000 euros ($272,808) in May.
Middle-class families arrive, construction restarts in Sesena
Town still lacks good transport links or a nearby hospital
Spain built 128,000 homes last year compared to 866,000 in 2006
SESENA, Spain June 4 (Reuters) – The first call came two minutes after estate agent Segis Gomez posted a listing in Sesena, a development near Madrid that gained notoriety as one of the so-called “ghost towns” created when Spain’s property bubble burst in 2008.
Half-built and half-empty for more than a decade, these days the squatters have gone from this development 40 km (24.85 miles) south of the capital and middle-class families, driven out of the city centre by an acute housing crisis, are moving in. Construction, meanwhile, has restarted.
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Demand is so strong in Sesena that Gomez has a waiting list of 70 people for each property. Property prices have recovered their original value after plunging to less than half during the crisis, he said.
As anger grows over the cost of housing in Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has made providing affordable homes one of his main goals – even as he encourages population growth through immigration . The size of the challenge is clear in Madrid, which grew by 140,000 people in 2024, but only registered permits to build 20,000 new homes.
Short supply is being exacerbated by a boom in holiday lets , record migration and onerous planning laws.
“The problem is that we can’t match supply and demand quickly enough. So prices go up, or people have to trade price for distance,” said Carles Vergara, a real estate professor at IESE Business School in Madrid.
Map shows how housing prices increased in the past five years in and around Madrid, Spain
Sesena has been adopted as a commuter town as Madrid overflows, even though it is located in the neighboring Castile-La Mancha region and still lacks good transport links to the capital and public services, which caused homebuyers to reject it in the past.
Its founder and original developer, Francisco Hernando, had a vision of 13,000 affordable apartments with gardens and swimming pools on the Spanish plain where author Cervantes set his best-known work Don Quixote, but the project became a byword for speculative greed and corruption. Only 5,000 homes ended up being built.
Hernando, who began his project in 2004, failed to tell homebuyers he hadn’t secured access to water or that the town had no public transport or schools. Hernando died in 2020.
When the market collapsed, initial investors saw the value of their property plummet, while many homes ended up in the hands of banks.
MADRID’S EXPANSION
Today, Sesena teems with life as parents drop children at its three schools, drink coffee in its bars and visit recently-opened gyms and pharmacies.
Impact Homes, a developer, is constructing 156 one-to-four bedroom apartments it expects to complete this year. Next door, another building has already pre-sold 49% of its units, it said in an email.
“Sesena is at 100%,” said Jaime de Hita, the town’s mayor.
Nestor Delgado moved to Sesena in 2021 with his family from Carabanchel in south Madrid because an apartment cost 20% less to rent. In May, he bought a house with his wife for 240,000 euros ($272,808).
Item 1 of 7 A boy walks on a street of Sesena, a development near Madrid, that gained notoriety as one of the so-called “ghost towns” created when Spain’s property bubble burst in 2008, in Sesena, Spain May 22, 2025. REUTERS/Nacho Doce [1/7] A boy walks on a street of Sesena, a development near Madrid, that gained notoriety as one of the so-called “ghost towns” created when Spain’s property bubble burst in 2008, in Sesena, Spain May 22, 2025. REUTERS/Nacho Doce Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab
“We chose (Sesena) because we can afford it,” Delgado, 34, said.
The trade-off is rising before 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) to be among the first in the queue for the 6.30 a.m. bus to Madrid to arrive at his construction job by 8 a.m. or face a an hour’s wait for the next bus.
BACK TO LIFE
Other ghost towns are also coming back to life. Valdeluz, a development 75 km east of Madrid originally envisioned to house 30,000 people, was abandoned a quarter of the way through when the property bubble burst.
Mayor Enrique Quintana told Reuters the town’s 6,000-strong population is swelling with people from Madrid and could expand by 50% in the next four years.
A development on the edge of the village of Bernuy de Porreros, 100 km north of Madrid, which as recently as six years ago was mostly abandoned, is now bustling with activity as handymen put the finishing touches on homes.
Lucia, a 37-year-old state employee, bought her house in April. Her daily commute to Madrid involves a 15-minute drive to the train station in Segovia and 28 minutes on the high-speed train, which costs her 48 euros for 30 trips thanks to a frequent traveller discount.
The development began to revive when Spain’s so-called bad bank Sareb , which was set up to take bad loans from the financial crisis, in 2021 began selling the homes for as little as 97,000 euros. Four years later, one property was resold for double that, said resident Nuria Alvarez.
Until recently a relatively compact city, Madrid is on the way to becoming a metropolis like Paris or London, with commuter zones stretching beyond its administrative boundaries, said Jose Maria Garcia, the regional government’s deputy housing minister.
The metropolitan area’s population of 7 million will grow by a million in the next 15 years, the government estimates.
Madrid has a deficit of 80,000-100,000 homes that’s growing by 15,000 homes a year and plans to build 110,000 homes by 2028, Garcia said.
Sesena, meanwhile, is once again dreaming big.
Its mayor, de Hita, said the town is securing permits for a new project dubbed Parquijote, with a proposed investment of 2.3 billion euros to build a logistics park that will create local jobs, along with 2,200 homes.
It’s no quixotic fantasy, de Hita said.
“This time we have learned from what happened,” he said. “It is fundamental that we look for growth by learning from the past.”
($1 = 0.8797 euros)
Reporting by Corina Pons, Charlie Devereux, Guillermo Martinez and Miguel Gutierrez; Writing by Charlie Devereux; Editing by Aislinn Laing and Sharon Singleton
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