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Lessons from the Iberian Peninsula Blackout: VETT is Part of the Solution
- oliviaakkerman
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
On Monday 28th April, Europe suffered its biggest ever power cut, affecting 60 million people across Spain, Portugal and France. Nearly the entire Iberian Peninsula saw loss of power, highlighting the need for investment in decentralising electricity grids and stable localised energy generation.
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the country had suffered a loss of 15GW of electricity generation in five seconds, equivalent to 60% of national demand. The sudden drop in grid load destabilised electricity flows, which require an extremely stable frequency of 50 Hertz to maintain supply. According to Spanish grid operator Red Eléctrica de España, this in turn caused a breakdown in the France-Spain interconnection that runs through the Pyrenees mountains, triggering a knock-on effect that quickly spread throughout the Iberian Peninsula. (Source: Reuters)
Sánchez said power was eventually brought back online thanks to hydropower and gas sources as well as connections with France and Morocco. (Source: BBC News)
The cause of the blackout is still to be publicly confirmed. Discussion over possible causes have included cyber attack, solar flares, and fluctuations from large scale wind or solar farms. Some sources have claimed Spain's reliance on non-conventional capacity was partly caused by the shutdown of several nuclear plants, because their output was too expensive. (Source: S&P Global)
What is clear is that the interconnected 'electricity island' of the Iberian peninsula makes it is extremely vulnerable to failures, and is a warning to Europe of the risks in not investing in decentralising the electricity grid with stable backup supplies from localised generation. "Whatever the findings, the crisis is sure to offer lessons for the way grids are operated as countries around the world shift to increasingly “electrified” energy systems that will place more burden on infrastructure and rely more heavily on renewable energy sources." (Source: The Telegraph)
Infrastructure resilience is also a huge concern. This Iberian blackout and similar high-profile incidents in recent years, such as the fire at the 60-year old substation serving Heathrow Airport, has highlighted vulnerabilities in aging electrical networks, backup systems, and on-site energy generation. Current electricity grids, particularly those in developed economies, are very old with many built in the 1950s.
There are growing concerns over energy supply disruptions in Europe, whether due to grid instability, extreme weather events, or unexpected infrastructure failures. Ensuring continuous and reliable energy supply is vital. Grids require urgent upgrades and decentralised supply systems if they are to handle the forecast growth in electricity demand
in the coming decades as decarbonisation accelerates. While spending on new solar capacity reached around $500 billion last year, investment in grids was only c. $400 billion, becoming bottlenecks for the energy transition, according to the International Energy Agency. (Source: Reuters)
Decentralised Systems for Energy Resilience
At the recent 'International Energy Week 2025' summit in London, hosted by the International Energy Agency, Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO of Sustainable Energy for All and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, pointed to the need for diversified energy sources. “Resilience isn’t just about keeping the lights on; it’s about anticipating risks and designing energy systems that are adaptive, decentralised, and sustainable”. With many facilities still heavily reliant on centralised grids, there was a strong push from European governments at the summit for greater investment in microgrids, battery storage, and on-site renewable generation. (Source: Facilities Management Journal)
"Delegates called for long-term policy frameworks that anticipate future system needs, including flexible generation, storage demand-side response and regional interconnection," the IEA said in its closing statement. "Participants agreed that the future of energy security must also encompass newer dimensions such as cybersecurity, extreme weather events, supply chain resilience for critical minerals and clean technologies, and integration of electrified and decentralised systems." (Source: Facilities Management Journal)
Lessons from the Blackout
With VerdErg Renewable Energy's novel VETT turbine for low-head hydropower sites, of which thousands are dotted across the UK and other countries, VerdErg is supporting this transition to more decentralised energy generation.
The incorporation of VETT into major Tidal Range infrastructure is an economically and environmentally superior source of predicable electrical baseload, compared to expensive alternatives such as nuclear generation.