{"id":214202,"date":"2026-04-01T18:07:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T18:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/how-a-relay-in-gipuzkoa-saved-europe-while-the-spanish-system-died-from-success\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T18:07:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T18:07:41","slug":"how-a-relay-in-gipuzkoa-saved-europe-while-the-spanish-system-died-from-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/how-a-relay-in-gipuzkoa-saved-europe-while-the-spanish-system-died-from-success\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Relay in Gipuzkoa Saved Europe While the Spanish System Died from Success"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Great Iberian Blackout: A Year of Reflection<\/h2>\n

Next April 28 will mark exactly one year since the biggest collapse in our recent history: the great blackout that turned the Iberian Peninsula black and left 55 million people in Spain and Portugal without electricity supply for 12 hours. Almost twelve months later, we finally have the official autopsy.<\/p>\n

The Final Report<\/h3>\n

The European Network of Electricity Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E) has published<\/a> a thorough 472-page final report. This document dissects the unprecedented incident, emphasizing that learning from mistakes is its primary goal\u2014not legal accountability. The chilling diagnosis reveals a perfect storm: the rigidity of new technologies, manual ineffectiveness during a critical moment, and infrastructure incapable of managing the energy transition.<\/p>\n

The Anatomy of Collapse<\/h3>\n

To understand what went wrong, we must look closely at events. At 12:03 p.m. on April 28, a local vibration of 0.63 Hz, caused by instability in the electronic converters of renewable plants, was recorded. Minutes later, this disturbance escalated, affecting the entire continent. The report refers to this phenomenon as \u201coperational blindness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of the renewable generation in Spain operated under a “fixed power factor,” which means solar and wind plants couldn’t dynamically absorb reactive energy. As voltage levels rose, these plants were taken offline for safety, triggering an uncontrolled voltage rebound. The crisis demanded instantaneous reactions; however, voltage control was still performed manually, slowing response times to critical minutes.<\/p>\n

The Blackout That Could Have Been Avoided<\/h3>\n

The European report elucidates that the Spanish electrical system’s collapse was not inevitable, but rather the product of poor voltage control management. Experts concluded from simulations that automation in connecting reactive components could have limited voltage increases and avoided a cascading failure. Additional measures like enhanced reactive power margins and the use of planned synchronous capacitors could have mitigated the crisis.<\/p>\n

The Rescue from Gipuzkoa<\/h3>\n

Fortunately, the catastrophe did not extend beyond Spain, thanks to an automated protection relay in Gipuzkoa. At 12:33 p.m., the high-voltage substation in Hernani disconnected from the troubled Argia substation in France. This \u201cdecapitation\u201d isolated Spain but safeguarded the larger European grid. Within ten minutes, Hernani became the conduit for energy, effectively reviving the Iberian Peninsula\u2019s electrical system from the bottom up.<\/p>\n

The Structural Problems of the Market<\/h3>\n

As discussions about clean energy’s role intensified, regulatory inaction became apparent. H\u00e9ctor de Lama, the technical director of UNEF, pointed out that no single plant could cause such a blackout; various factors must align. Current remuneration for renewables is insufficient to incentivize necessary security services, shedding light on administrative delays in adapting regulations to leverage renewable capabilities.<\/p>\n

A Gold Mine Without a Road<\/h3>\n

During discussions at the VI Economic Forum of elDiario.es<\/em>, industry leaders defined Spain’s situation as “a gold mine without a road.” Despite having abundant, inexpensive generation capacity, inadequate investment in the grid compared to other European nations has left Spain vulnerable. While high renewable penetration provides daytime energy security, insufficient battery storage means reliance on traditional fossil fuels during nighttime hours.<\/p>\n

The War Without Quarter<\/h3>\n

As technicians scrutinized simulations, corporate skirmishes arose. Beatriz Corredor, president of Redeia, has been entrenching herself in Senate appearances using selective interpretations of the report. Internal recordings revealed technicians had detected system “oscillations” for weeks but still chose manual operations, highlighting severe mismanagement.<\/p>\n

The Collapse of Data and Bureaucracy<\/h3>\n

The blackout significantly jeopardized Spain’s economic prospects. A new control system was hastily implemented, costing over 800 million euros, which inevitably will result in increased tolls and charges for consumers. Compounding this issue, the arrival of energy-intensive data centers has overloaded the network, revealing the physical limits of existing infrastructure.<\/p>\n

A System Hanging by a Thread<\/h3>\n

Europe’s clinical diagnosis indicates that Spain was saved from disaster via a relay in Gipuzkoa, with France providing emergency energy assistance. The irony is palpable: while France came to Spain\u2019s rescue, it serves as a commercial adversary in everyday operations.<\/p>\n

A year later, as legal battles rage over blame for the blackout, the country remains at a standstill regarding structural solutions. Spain possesses the potential to be Europe’s industrial powerhouse, but unless procedural delays are addressed and improvements in mass storage capability are made, the risk of another electrical heart failure lingers uneasily.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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General News – 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Great Iberian Blackout: A Year of Reflection Next April 28 will mark exactly one year since the biggest collapse in our recent history: the great blackout that turned the Iberian Peninsula black and left 55 million people in Spain and Portugal without electricity supply for 12 hours. Almost twelve months later, we finally have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":214203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36399],"tags":[470,1147,50736,10396,1928,11993,5530,3285],"class_list":["post-214202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-died","tag-europe","tag-gipuzkoa","tag-relay","tag-saved","tag-spanish","tag-success","tag-system"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214202"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":214204,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214202\/revisions\/214204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}