EU rules out renewables as cause of Iberian blackout

The European Commission has discounted renewable energy as the cause of the April 28 blackout across Spain and Portugal.

"There's no reason to believe that this is because of renewables," EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen said at a press conference on Tuesday.

"Many countries with a very high share of renewables in their energy mix have far fewer blackout minutes per year than others that don't." Jørgensen said, adding: "So, this is not the cause."

Jørgensen stressed that "it's too early to say" what the exact causes of the blackout were and noted that internal investigations and "international, neutral analysis" are ongoing. The European Commission is following this very closely and stands ready to help with our experts," he added.

When asked whether nuclear power is still necessary today, Jørgensen said that it is "up to national governments" to decide whether or not to include nuclear energy in their energy mix.

Spain's national grid has already denied that renewables were the cause of the power outage. 

The Catalan government, the Spanish government, and the courts have all launched various investigations into the blackout.

Podcast

Listen to the podcast below on how the blackout unfolded in Catalonia.