Spain’s Grid Operator Warns of New Voltage Swings, Urges Measures to Avoid Blackout
By Reuters
Spain’s grid operator REE has detected steep voltage swings in the system over the past two weeks that are capable of affecting power supply in the country that suffered a massive blackout in April, it warned in a document sent to market regulator CNMC.
It urged swift technical changes to be implemented to avoid any such impact. The CNMC said on Wednesday it was calling a public consultation for the coming days with a view to adopting urgent, provisional measures to stabilise the system before a more permanent solution can be found.
“According to the information provided to the CNMC by the system operator, the rapid voltage fluctuations recorded in the last two weeks, even though the voltages are always within the established margins, can potentially trigger demand and/or generation disconnections that end up destabilising the electrical system,” it said in a statement.
The European network of electricity transmission system operators said in a report last Friday the massive power outage that hit the Iberian Peninsula on April 28 was the first known blackout caused by excessive voltage.
The report, like previous inquiries, pointed to a surge in voltage as the immediate cause of the April 28 outage – Europe’s most significant blackout in more than two decades, which paralysed cities and stranded people on trains across Portugal and Spain.
A bird flies past high-tension electricity cables on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain, September 14, 2021.
The logo of Spanish electricity grid operator Red Electrica ca Espa–a is attached in a electricity pylon in Alcobendas, outside Madrid, Spain, March 9, 2016.
Original source: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/spains-grid-operator-warns-new-tension-swings-urges-measures-avoid-blackout-2025-10-08/