Blaming renewables for Spain’s blackout is like faulting the thermometer for the fever

Open-Ed

The blackout that occurred in Spain on April 28 was neither a surprise nor a malfunction. It embodies a deeper tension of our time, between those who embrace change and those who hold on to outdated systems in the name of safety. Like every technological shift, it reflects a broader divide: a vision of the world that welcomes innovation versus one clinging to legacy frameworks. The Spanish blackout should not be interpreted as a failure of renewables, but as a wake-up call revealing how rigidly our power infrastructure still clings to its historical foundations.

This event, which impacted nearly the entire Iberian grid and parts of southwestern France, stands out as a major energy incident in recent European memory. While the response, especially in France, was swift and effective, the incident revealed structural vulnerabilities that our energy systems will increasingly face in the years to come.

Like most European systems, the Spanish grid is meshed: it is composed of interconnected zones that constantly exchange electricity. When a disturbance occurs in one of these zones, such as the sudden loss of a generating unit or a major piece of infrastructure, a local imbalance between generation and demand appears, causing the frequency to drop immediately below the 50 Hz reference.

This phenomenon, though well understood in theory, takes on a new dimension in a system where solar and wind resources are extensively deployed and geographically distributed. In such a system, the behavior of inverters becomes critical to local grid stability. When frequency drops sharply in a given zone, these digital generators could help support the network – if they were allowed to remain connected.

Yet under the current European grid code, these installations must automatically disconnect when frequency falls below the 48 Hz threshold. This protection mechanism, inherited from a grid paradigm based on rotational inertia, deprives the system of valuable power precisely when it is most needed. This premature withdrawal worsens the local imbalance, accelerates the frequency drop, and may trigger a cascade of further disconnections across neighboring zones. In this way, through a domino effect, an isolated event escalates into a widespread collapse, like a house of cards falling piece by piece.

In contrast, France demonstrated remarkable resilience. Its cross-border interconnections helped absorb the initial shock, while automated protections isolated part of the southwest to contain the spread. Thanks to this system architecture and RTE’s rapid intervention, the situation was stabilized within minutes.

This resilience relies on several key features: strong structural inertia, largely thanks to the nuclear fleet, which naturally damps frequency fluctuations; a more balanced distribution of generation assets across the territory; sufficient spinning reserves for immediate response to power losses; and finally, robust interconnections with neighboring countries that allow regional resource sharing in real time.

It’s important to stress that this nuclear-provided inertia is not a brake on the energy transition – it’s an enabler. It forms a valuable technical foundation that allows France to integrate growing volumes of renewable electricity while maintaining system stability. This structural complementarity between nuclear and renewables – far from being contradictory – could serve as a European blueprint for a secure and well-managed transition.

More than just an isolated event, the blackout must be understood as a weak signal of a paradigm shift: a transition from a system based on predictability, centralization, and mechanical inertia to one that is increasingly distributed, dynamic, and responsive to local conditions.

Such an event invites two interpretations. One is a nervous reading, seeing it as yet another technical failure. The other is more lucid: it reveals how far we still have to go in adapting our networks to the realities of the energy transition. Our current grid architecture was designed for a world of centralized, linear, and predictable generation. But we now live in an electric world that is increasingly distributed, adaptive, and digital. What we face is not a glitch to fix but a model to fundamentally redesign.

In this context, blaming renewables for Spain’s blackout is like faulting the thermometer for the fever. The automatic disconnection of generating units when critical frequency thresholds are breached is not a flaw inherent to renewables, it’s the outcome of safety protocols developed for an inertia-dominated system. This rule, which applies to all types of generation including nuclear, is designed to protect equipment from extreme frequency deviations. But in a grid increasingly powered by electronic sources, like solar and wind inverters, this logic can backfire, stripping the system of capacity precisely when it’s most needed.

As renewables become more widespread, they will be increasingly located near the source of grid imbalances – not as a source of fragility, but as a reservoir of flexibility. That is, if we allow them to stay online, contribute to frequency support, and help stabilize the system. Yet today, these digital generators are still forced to disconnect when they could instead be acting as buffers. The problem isn’t their nature, it’s our failure to integrate them as active resources for grid reliability. It is time we governed 21st-century technologies with 21st-century control systems.

This isn’t a Spanish issue. All of Europe now faces a challenge similar to the one it overcame in telecommunications three decades ago. By inventing GSM, Europe managed to turn a patchwork of national systems into a global innovation driver. Today, with its diverse energy mixes, consumption profiles, and geographic constraints, Europe has once again a unique opportunity – to reinvent its electricity networks the way it reinvented mobile communication: intelligently, collaboratively, and resiliently.

Solar energy will prevail not by ideology, but by efficiency. It is free, universal, and abundant. Conversion systems grow more affordable, performant, and accessible each year. Their deployment is simple, decentralized, and scalable. Much like in telecom, some countries will leap directly to distributed grid architectures and bypass the centralized model entirely.

Pakistan’s experience in 2024 is instructive. Faced with a fragile grid, daily blackouts, and soaring electricity prices, the country saw a grassroots movement toward solar adoption. Within months, 17 GW of panels were imported and millions of rooftops were equipped. Solar didn’t cause the grid’s collapse, instead it was the response. What Pakistan is doing out of urgency, others will pursue as a strategic choice.

The April 28 incident will not be the first, nor the last. It is one of many signs that the system is changing. Renewable penetration is reaching historic levels. Weather conditions themselves are becoming more unpredictable. And in this transition, every disruption offers an opportunity to learn. If Europe may have missed the first industrial leap of the energy revolution, it cannot afford to miss the next one: the governance, architecture, and intelligent control of tomorrow’s networks.

We must not fear the future. These ruptures are not threats – they are promises. They force us to innovate, to rethink, to build differently. Solar energy, like the light it captures, illuminates the path forward. The only question is: will we know how to position the mirrors?

Author: Xavier Daval, CEO at kiloWattsol, Chair of Solar Commission at the French Renewable Energy Association (SER), and Board Director of the Global Solar Council (GSC).

This article was originally published in pv magazine and is republished with permission.

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