We need a robust system that focuses on delivering for the people, with reliable sources of energy and the right capabilities in the power system: like black start and islanding capabilities.

Reliable black start and islanding capabilities are two concrete examples of a strong security of supply. They are needed to restore the electricity supply as fast as possible in case of an incident.

The events also show the importance of synchronous power production, baseload, to be able to restore power supply – but also to prevent incidents that can cascade into this kind of massive blackouts. Renewables and more grids alone will not build the strong power system that the EU needs for our security and our competitiveness. With increased electrification, security of supply will only become more important. As we can see here in Spain it is not only a huge impact on every persons normal life, but it is also a hard situation for companies with great losses on production, and in the end competitiveness. This blackout will probably have huge economic consequences.

The situation also highlights how impressive Ukraine has worked to maintain power supply even during massive attacks. Ukraine has the know-how and knows the value of a reliable power system. Ukraine’s generosity in offering help, even while under attack, is exceptional. Europe needs to address how important security of supply is and the need for baseload. And especially fossil free baseload like nuclear so we don’t become dependent on import of fossil fuels.

Premijer Pedro Sančez se izgleda ne obazire puno na činjenice i tera vodu na svoju vodenicu.

Direktorka španske elektromreže je inače samouvereno pre 4 godine tvrdila da je španska mreža najbolja usvijet^TM i da do ovakvih ispada ne može doći u Španiji.

And it seemed unthinkable that an event of this magnitude would happen in a country like Spain. In fact, it was the president of Red Eléctrica de España, Beatriz Corredor , who stated, almost four years ago, that "it can't happen in Spain. " (...)

This Tuesday, Susanna Griso revisited the interview Corredor gave to 'Espejo Público' in November 2021, amid an energy crisis that led several European countries, such as Germany and Austria, to implement contingency plans.

"Not in Spain, of course ," Corredor responded to Griso's question about the risk of a power outage in our country. " We have an electrical system, I'd say the best in the world , and that's not false patriotism. It's one of the safest, most evolved, and has the most advanced components," the president of Red Eléctrica defended.

In this regard, Corredor urged the Spanish population to remain calm: "The first thing I would say to everyone is 'calm down,' don't change your lifestyle, because that can't happen in Spain."

The president of Red Eléctrica then emphasized that the Spanish electricity system relies on "many different technologies to guarantee the electricity supply." " We don't depend on just one. The more diversified it is, the safer it is, and the more difficult it is for an incident to occur," she asserted.

In this regard, Corredor joked about the need to stock up on candles or stoves for fear of a blackout: "Beyond your usual habits, unless you want to go on an excursion , which is also very good, there is no risk in the short or medium term of it happening."

Furthermore, the president of Red Eléctrica also explained that the role of this organization is neither to generate, sell, nor buy electricity , but rather to transport it "from the generator to the distributor." "This means that Red Eléctrica ensures that the electrical energy consumed and produced is the same every millisecond, because if it isn't exactly the same, an imbalance occurs and a disturbance can occur," she explained.

Corredor also argued on 'Espejo Público' that Red Eléctrica's service is of "extremely high quality" because "every time we need electricity, that service is available" and that Spain has one of the "best control centers in the world."

https://www.abc.es/play/television/noticias/beatriz-corredor-nego-susanna-griso-riesgo-apagon-20250429165042-nt.html

A evo i nastavka onog članka čiji je početak gore preneo @barba :

This was reflected in its latest annual report, submitted to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) on February 26. By law, listed companies must warn their investors in these documents of any threats that could affect their business. According to Redeia, this increased grid instability could impact both the electricity supply and the company's reputation. In its analysis, the group did not identify "significant financial impacts for the company" arising from this threat.

This entry in the group's annual accounts, reported by El Confidencial , has been one of the most widely circulated paragraphs in the electricity sector's WhatsApp groups. Especially because of a second entry as significant as the previous one.

"The closure of conventional generation plants such as coal, combined cycle, and nuclear (as a result of regulatory requirements) entails a reduction in the firm capacity and balancing capabilities of the electrical system, as well as its strength and inertia," the company acknowledged in the report it submitted to the market. "This could increase the risk of operational incidents that could affect the company's supply and reputation. This incident poses a risk with a short- to medium-term time horizon," the company stated.

Publicly, however, the narrative of Red Eléctrica and its president has been very different. In February, during the results presentation, Corredor denied the risk of a blackout when questioned by the media about the stability of the system in the face of the planned closure of nuclear power plants in Spain. On April 9, the public company posted a tweet on its official account in which it flatly rejected the risk of a blackout and asserted that, as the operator, it guaranteed supply. Weeks later, Spain experienced the worst blackout in its history precisely due to fluctuations in the grid frequency caused by imbalances in the electrical system.

More than 24 hours after the power outage, Red Eléctrica technicians are analyzing a potential cascade of photovoltaic plants as the most plausible option. At the time of the blackout, solar energy was supporting 70% of demand, with between 17 and 18 gigawatts (GW) of generation. Yesterday, Pedro Sánchez estimated that 15 GW of generation was suddenly disconnected from the system in just 5 seconds, at 12:33 p.m.

https://www.elmundo.es/economia/empresas/2025/04/29/6810ac39fc6c833c7e8b4589.html (prevod: Google Translate)

Edited April 29Apr 29 by vememah

2 hours ago, vememah said:

Premijer Pedro Sančez se izgleda ne obazire puno na činjenice i tera vodu na svoju vodenicu.

Direktorka španske elektromreže je inače samouvereno pre 4 godine tvrdila da je španska mreža najbolja usvijet^TM i da do ovakvih ispada ne može doći u Španiji.

https://www.abc.es/play/television/noticias/beatriz-corredor-nego-susanna-griso-riesgo-apagon-20250429165042-nt.html

A evo i nastavka onog članka čiji je početak gore preneo @barba :

https://www.elmundo.es/economia/empresas/2025/04/29/6810ac39fc6c833c7e8b4589.html (prevod: Google Translate)

A koje su to činjenice? Sve što sam video do sada može da se sumira kao "niko ne zna", makar ne ljudi iz struke. Jedini koji sigurno znaju sve su političari kao ova Ebba, čiji Twitter vrca od svetog trojstva čvrste ruke i tradicionalnih vrednosti, migranti nam siluju žene, stop islamu i treba nam baseload energija. Po struci je bivši student studija mira i konflikta, valjda je tu naučila kakav efekat imaju zapaljive izjave za koje ne zna da li su tačne.

Pre tri godine, u toku zime i talasa ekstremno niskih temperatura desio se kolaps mreže u Teksasu. Guverner je kao čestit čovek odmah potrčao da se ispoliva po vetrenjačama, što svi znaju da ne radi kako treba i nije pouzdano. Samo, ispostavilo se da je najveći problem bio sa elektranama na gas, ali koga je to briga. On je dao jednostavno objašnjenje koje je ljudima razumljivo, kako se to radi u današnjem generisanju narativa. Najvažnije je da kod svakog događaja ispričaš priču koja je u tvom interesu, nema veze šta je stvarno bilo.

25 minutes ago, Venom said:

A koje su to činjenice?

Da se po preliminarnoj istrazi operatora električne mreže ispad najpre desio u regionu gde su solarne elektrane i da je u tom trenutku 70% proizvodnje zadovoljavala solarna energija.

The director of operations for Spain's Red Elétrica de España, Eduardo Prieto, points to solar energy as a possible source of the loss of generation, although he calls for responsibility in "not speculating about the origins and development of the incident" at a time when there is insufficient information.

Red Eléctrica de España has conducted an initial analysis of the situation and, in addition to ruling out a cyberattack, attributes the massive blackout to two extraordinary events that occurred in southwestern Spain, which caused two outages, presumably in renewable energy. However, its Director of Operations, Eduardo Prieto , reiterates that they are still collecting and analyzing the data.

"The loss of generation is solar"

Eduardo Prieto has confirmed that the disconnections occurred in the southwest region of the Iberian Peninsula, and that this "leads us to believe that the loss of generation is due to solar energy." On Monday, April 28, the market depended more than 70% on photovoltaic energy , according to data from Red Eléctrica, which is more unstable in the electrical system than other sources such as gas or nuclear.

https://www.1minutohuelva.com/2025/04/red-electrica-de-espana-mira-al-suroeste-de-espana-como-origen-del-apagon/ (prevod: Google Translate)

Edited April 29Apr 29 by vememah

advanced control systems, which many grids, including Spain’s, are still developing. (Not impossible, just more difficult). These risks have been flagged for a while.

Consider the below: https://sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032124008694…?

Edited April 29Apr 29 by vememah

5 hours ago, vememah said:

Da se po preliminarnoj istrazi operatora električne mreže ispad najpre desio u regionu gde su solarne elektrane i da je u tom trenutku 70% proizvodnje zadovoljavala solarna energija.

https://www.1minutohuelva.com/2025/04/red-electrica-de-espana-mira-al-suroeste-de-espana-como-origen-del-apagon/ (prevod: Google Translate)

Jedan izvor, jedno mišljenje, possible, stay responsible, don't speculate.

Pogledao sam juče, većina kaže da ne zna, navodi moguće scenarije, od kojih su neki u međuvremenu uglavnom svuda isključeni (cyber attack). Od ovih koje sam video, Daily Mail i Telegraph su sigurni da su obnovljivi izvori, kao i švedska ministarka.

Video sam i neke koji su isključili mogućnost obnovljivih izvora jer "proizvodnja nije bila van uobičajene u poslednje vreme".

6 hours ago, Venom said:

A koje su to činjenice? Sve što sam video do sada može da se sumira kao "niko ne zna", makar ne ljudi iz struke. Jedini koji sigurno znaju sve su političari kao ova Ebba, čiji Twitter vrca od svetog trojstva čvrste ruke i tradicionalnih vrednosti, migranti nam siluju žene, stop islamu i treba nam baseload energija. Po struci je bivši student studija mira i konflikta, valjda je tu naučila kakav efekat imaju zapaljive izjave za koje ne zna da li su tačne.

Čim su nekome migranti prva rečenica na svaku temu, sa tom osobom nema šta više ozbiljno da se priča.

50 minutes ago, Venom said:

Jedan izvor, jedno mišljenje

S malom sitnicom da potiče od onog ko raspolaže najvećom količinom podataka i čija glava može biti na panju ako se pokaže da je lagao pošto je bes javnosti usmeren upravo na njegovu firmu koja je trebalo da sve to drži pod kontrolom.

Edited April 30Apr 30 by vememah

Nije lagao, jer nije ništa tvrdio. Rečenica sadrži "mogući izvor problema su... ali ne treba spekulisati, jer nemamo dovoljno informacija"

Zašto neko iz toga spekuliše i izvlači zaključke ne znam.

7 hours ago, Venom said:

On je dao jednostavno objašnjenje koje je ljudima razumljivo, kako se to radi u današnjem generisanju narativa.

Ono sto se da pretpostaviti iz opisa dogadjaja je da su vodili sistem bez dovoljno rotirajuce rezerve i nisu mogli da ga stabilisu kod ispada veceg generisanja i krenulo iskljucenja od strane zastite da sacuva objekte. Uvek mora da ima prostora da automatska primarna regulacija inicira srazmerno podizanje snage da nadoknadi iznenadni ispad.

Ovo je verovatno ovako kao sto @gsb kaze. Zaustavljeno kod Francuza da se ne bi sirilo u UCTE. Load shedding samo velikih razmera. I sve ostaje zapisano u log fajlovima zastite i kontrolera.

Nema tu prostora za teorije zavere.

Edited April 30Apr 30 by Moonwalker

@vememah

Nema veze gde je u sistemu ovaj kvar otpoceo. Frekvencija je globalna velicina i ista je u svakoj tacki regulacione zone. Poremecaj bilo gde, vodi poremecaju u celoj regulacionoj zoni ako se ne stabilise. Regulacija napona zbog naglog pada moze biti lokalnog karaktera i moze da se tako i tretira. Ne dovodi do ovakve situacije.

Godišnji izveštaj španske elektromreže za 2024, objavljen na sajtu krajem februara ove godine:

https://www.redeia.com/sites/default/files/publication/2025/02/downloadable/Consolidated_Annual_Accounts_2024.pdf

Trenutno preko veze sa Francuskom navodno mogu da nadoknade svega 3% potrošnje, iako je preporuka EU da to bude barem 10%.

Edited April 30Apr 30 by vememah

Ima i ovo:

Spanish power cut highlights fundamental weakness in EU power grid

While the precise sequence of events that led to the catastrophic power outages across the Iberian peninsula has yet to be established, the events have highlighted the urgency of bolstering Europe’s power grid.

The massive power outage in Spain and Portugal this week has raised questions about whether Europe’s power grid is ready for the rapid electrification and ramping up of renewable energy sources like wind and solar called for by EU climate policy and increasingly seen as a geopolitical imperative.

One theory that has been gaining traction in the hours since the power outage just after 12:30 on Monday is that the collapse was triggered by the failure of a high voltage power line between France and Spain.

That is certainly the theory being pushed by the electricity company association Eurelectric. “On Monday 28 April, between 12:38 and 13:30 CET, Spain’s transmission system was disconnected from the European grid at the 400 kV level due to an issue with a power line connecting French and Spanish Catalonia,” the industry group said on Tuesday.

“The fault triggered a domino disrupting electricity supply not only in Spain but also in Portugal, Andorra, and parts of France,” Eurelectric said.

Why that happened has yet to be clarified. Briefing journalists, a European Commission energy official said that EU regulations require the transmission system operators (TSOs) involved in the incident to conduct a detailed investigation and produce a report within six months.

One thing seems clear, however: there was no shortage of electricity moments before the crash, when solar power alone was covering over half of demand, and surplus power was being exported to France via a 2.8GW high-voltage interconnector. It remains to be established exactly what tripped a precipitous shutdown of solar power – over 10 GW in a matter of minutes – and all other sources in the generation mix.

Electricity islands

The European Commission has recognised that Europe’s power grid is not fit for purpose, and will need to be rapidly built up in line with rising demand, driven largely by the planned electrification of sectors that have traditionally been powered by fossil fuels: electric cars replacing petrol and diesel models, and heat pumps replacing gas boilers.

In the Clean Industrial Deal published in February, the EU executive promised to deliver a ‘grids package’ early in 2026, which should put legislative flesh on the bones of an ‘action plan’ delivered in late 2023. It is now aiming at presenting the package towards the end of this year.

Electricity firms are among those pushing hardest for the EU to take decisive action. “As society relies more and more on electricity, it’s crucial that electricity is reliable,” Eurelectric secretary-general Kristian Ruby said.

Under the current target, all EU countries should have in place internal and cross border power lines capable of importing or exporting 15% of their national generation capacity.

The European Commission estimates this could cost €584 billion, a figure the EU executive said in its last annual energy review “might put the current model of refinancing these investments through consumer tariffs under strain”.

To make things worse, as the campaign group Climate Action Network Europe noted recently, the 11 countries that have not yet met the 15% target are home to 86% of the EU’s wind and solar capacity.

Apart from isolated Cyprus and Ireland, whose first power line to the EU (now the UK no longer counts) is under construction, Spain is the furthest from meeting the 2030 connection target.

It is currently on just 4%, one point behind fellow laggards Greece, Italy and Poland, although a second link to France, under the Bay of Biscay, is under construction and due online in 2028.

“Widespread blackouts like this have virtually always been triggered by transmission network failures - not by generation, renewables or otherwise," said Michael Hogan, a senior advisor at the Regulatory Assistance Project, an NGO specialising in energy policy.

The degree to which its [=Spain's] relative isolation from the European grid contributed to the disastrous power cut should be established in the coming weeks, but it undoubtedly prevents surplus green electricity being channelled to other parts of Europe that could use it to replace coal or gas-fired generation.

Huge amounts of energy and money are wasted each year when solar arrays are switched off or wind turbines brought to a standstill simply because there is nowhere for the electricity to go.

France, where nuclear power predominates, is only capable of shunting the equivalent 6% of its generation potential across its borders. And even Germany, which prides itself on its energy transition is only at 11%.

A patchwork of grids

Euronews asked Ronnie Belmans, emeritus professor at the KU Leuven university in Belgium and a veteran expert on power grids, how repeats of the Iberian blackout could be avoided in future.

"First of all, you need a good grid," Belmans said. "Spain is not well connected to the rest of Europe, they have only one serious connection," Belmans said, in reference to the trans-Pyrenean line.

The situation – which some have blamed at least in part on a reluctance over the years of the French government to expose its nuclear industry to competition from cheaper green energy – was "shameful" he said.

Moreover, grid planning in Europe is currently largely in the hands of transmission system operators, through a quasi-official EU body known as ENTSO-E – a situation that critics have long complained entails a conflict of interests.

For Belmans, having a "bunch of TSOs sitting together around the table" at regular intervals and presenting their own national plans – reflecting their own economic interests – is no way to run a European power grid.

"What is missing is an independent development plan in Europe," he said, suggesting that steps should be made towards an independent transnational system operator under the control of the EU’s energy regulatory agency ACER.

“It could be empowered to designate how much and where new overlay grid capacity is needed independent of national borders,” Belmans said.

With the European Commission still working on its grids package, the next indication of its appetite for reform should come next week, with the expected publication of a plan to wean Europe off Russian fossil fuels by 2027.

With scant petroleum resources of its own, the EU has already increased its renewable energy targets and streamlined planning procedures since the Ukraine invasion. Even before this week’s events, whatever proves to be their specific cause, it was clear Europe’s grid wasn’t ready.

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/04/30/spanish-power-cut-highlights-fundamental-weakness-in-eu-power-grid

ENTSO-E Position Paper

Stability Management in Power Electronics Dominated Systems: A Prerequisite to the Success of the Energy Transition

June 2022

https://eepublicdownloads.azureedge.net/clean-documents/Publications/Position%20papers%20and%20reports/220616_entso-e_pp_stability_management.pdf

"Na Praznik rada podsetićemo na slučaj kada je austrijska firma Štrabag tokom 2016. angažovala zatvorenike iz Okružnog zatvora u Zaječaru na poslovima obnove mosta u Knjaževcu za samo jedan evro po satu. Osuđenici su prema zakonu imali pravo na 20 odsto od te sume, odnosno 24 dinara po satu. Tako je firma iz „civilizovanog“ imperijalističkog centra ubirala super-profit, ne samo u iznosu razlike između cene rada u Srbiji i Austriji, nego i minimalne i tržišne cene rada u Srbiji, a domaći kompradori se dodatno ugrađivali preko grbače radnika. Uz sve to, Štrabag za njihov angažman nije plaćao poreze i doprinose.

Od imperijalističkog puča 5. oktobra 2000. Štrabag je kupio nekoliko lokalnih kompanija za izgradnju puteva i obezbedio niz unosnih ugovora sa državom. Naknadno je bio uključen i u izgradnju Beograda na vodi. Inače, 2013. godine, predsednik nadzornog odbora Štrabaga - bivši austrijski kancelar Alfred Guzenbauer - postao je i savetnik Vlade Srbije.

Danas se liberalni i konzervativni studenti, dok bicikliraju i trče ka prestonicama imperijalističkog centra, oduševljavaju njihovim bogatstvom, dok se kod kuće bore za još više njihovog ekonomskog, političkog i informativnog uticaja. Naravno, ne pada im napamet ni da spomenu ove iznešene informacije niti da kritikuju mili im Beč. Klasni neprijatelji, petokolonaši i dudukčine!

Drugarice i drugovi čestitamo vam Praznik rada, sa željom da malo odmorite i napunite baterije za dalju borbu, uz kontinuirane pozive da se grupišete oko RNPF i tako ne dođete u situaciju da radite protiv sopstvenih klasnih i nacionalnih interesa. Takođe, večeras u 19.30 gledajte nas na RT Balkan u emisiji Dan uveče, gde ćemo kao i uvek zastupati socijalističke ideje u javnom prostoru.

Naš rad - naš profit!

Dole EU!

Živela Srbija!"