The Iberian Peninsula in the dark. Whose fault is it?

Published in La Tribune, on June 30, 2025

The blackout that struck the Iberian Peninsula's electricity system on April 28, 2025 is still being analyzed by the Spanish, Portuguese and French system operators, as well as by ENTSO-E, the association for the cooperation of transmission system operators from 36 European countries. European legislation sets a deadline of 6 months for publication of the full conclusions. However, the lengthy time required for technical assessments does not suit politicians, who are anxious to find a scapegoat to absolve themselves of any responsibility at election time. In the eyes of Spain's Minister for Ecological Transition and Portugal's Minister for the Environment and Energy, there are several candidates to blame, including France and its lackluster interconnection construction policy.

The Iberian electrical peninsula and its ties to the European grid

The power system linking Spain and Portugal is not totally isolated from the European grid, but the Pyrenees constitute a costly obstacle to the construction of connections with France, and therefore with the rest of Europe. Over the period 2022-2023, Spain had an average commercial import capacity of 2.2 GW with France via 6 lines (CRE report, page 24). The construction of the Bay of Biscay interconnection, essentially submarine, between Gatica (near Bilbao) and Cubnezais (near Bordeaux), aims to increase physical interconnection capacity to 5 GW by 2028...

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Illustration : Tim Rüßmann on Unsplash