Spain's national grid operator denies blackout was caused by excess renewables

The president of Spain's national grid operator Red Eléctrica has denied that the nationwide blackout was caused by an excess of renewable energy.

"Linking Monday's incident to renewable penetration is incorrect," Beatriz Corredor said on Wednesday in a radio interview with Cadena Ser.

She also cleared Red Eléctrica of any blame and stated that she has no intention of stepping down.

According to Corredor, the Spanish energy system is "the best" and "operates with the strictest safety measures in Europe."

She did acknowledge that the only way to ensure such a blackout doesn't happen again is to identify the exact cause of the failure, adding: "we still don’t know where the error occurred."

Cause "more or less located"

Red Eléctrica's president said that the cause of the blackout has been "more or less located," but that "millions of data points" still need to be analyzed before reaching a conclusion.

The company had earlier said the disruption appears to have originated from a technical issue linked to a mass shutdown of solar power plants.

However, Corredor has already ruled out excess renewable energy as the cause. "The renewable mix is safe," she said, explaining that "it operates stably using conventional technology."

"It’s not a problem of excess generation, the system has withstood much more extreme conditions without any safety issues," she said.

According to Corredor, restoring the system after Monday's collapse was "a feat," noting that by 4am on Tuesday, 100% of electrical substations were already operating.

"I want to highlight the tremendous technical team," she added. "The best minds and hands in the electrical world are at Red Eléctrica, and what they did was apply their knowledge in service of the public." 

Energy experts

Energy experts consulted by the Catalan News Agency (ACN) in the wake of the blackout also warned that blaming renewable energy is "simplistic," arguing that the root problem is a "complete lack" of planning in the energy system.