On April 28th, Spain and Portugal experienced a rare event: a power blackout that affected millions of people for more than 10 hours. As is often the case in these types of situations, it didn't take long for self-serving interpretations to emerge, taking advantage of the opportunity to attack the current energy model, especially renewable energy.
"This is the risk of relying on renewables," some headlines proclaimed. However, beyond the simplifications and self-serving rhetoric, technical data and expert analysis paint a much more complex picture and, above all, a much more hopeful one for the future of our electrical system.
After weeks of investigations by electrical system operators and independent experts, it has been established that the blackout was caused by a combination of technical problems. Before the grid frequency drop, sustained overvoltages were detected for some time, which points to poor reactive power distribution. Simply put, it wasn't a question of how much energy was being generated, but rather how the grid's technical balance was managed.
Reactive power is essential for maintaining adequate voltage on power lines. Its management becomes more complicated in a modern grid, where solar, wind, storage, international interconnections, and conventional plants coexist. When this reactive power is not well balanced, voltage spikes can occur, which, if not corrected quickly, can lead to major disturbances, such as the frequency drop we saw that day.
Some critics have also pointed to the lower "inertia" of renewable sources. Conventional power plants, especially thermal ones, have large rotating masses (turbines) that act as a natural buffer against rapid frequency variations. Solar and wind plants, on the other hand, relying on electronic inverters, do not naturally provide this inertia. However, this technical weakness is being actively compensated for with modern solutions, such as so-called "smart inverters" or storage systems (batteries) that can quickly inject power and stabilize frequency.
The future is renewable, but it requires smart management. This event reminds us of something fundamental: integrating renewable energy into a modern electricity grid is not simply replacing a coal plant with a solar field. It means transforming the very concept of electricity system management. We are moving from a centralized model, with a few large plants, to a distributed one, where thousands of small generators (rooftop solar panels, wind farms, self-consumption, home batteries, grid-connected electric vehicles) participate in production and regulation.
This distribution provides resilience, flexibility, and sustainability, but requires a new level of technical sophistication: smart grids, advanced control algorithms, massive digitalization, and, above all, risk anticipation through real-time simulations and monitoring. Most importantly, the technology to do this exists today. In fact, countries like Denmark, Germany, and Australia are already operating electricity grids with extremely high percentages of renewables without suffering more incidents than with conventional systems.
We are facing a monumental challenge: the Climate Crisis. Extreme temperatures, prolonged droughts, and extreme weather events are not future theories, but present realities. The abandonment of fossil fuels is a moral, health, and economic obligation. Renewable energy is the cornerstone of this transition. Arguing that an isolated technical failure invalidates the renewable energy model is equivalent to saying that a plane crash should force us to abandon commercial flights.
The real lesson of the April 28 blackout is another: we must invest even more in technical training, R&D, intelligent planning, and above all, in providing accurate information to the public. It is worrying how in the 21st century, even with the communication technology at our disposal, we continue to witness polarized public debates, where noise and misinformation dominate over rational analysis of data.
It is also disheartening to see the paucity of political debate in situations like this. Instead of conducting a calm analysis, seeking technical explanations and solutions for the future, many leaders prefer to exploit the incident to attack their rivals, fueling public distrust in the energy transition. Citizens deserve more than mere trench slogans.
However, progress is not halted by the clumsiness of some leaders. The energy transition is unstoppable, not only out of ecological necessity, but because it is already cheaper, more efficient, and safer in the long term. But it requires technical rigor, public education, and political responsibility.
As a citizen, I am not a technical expert, but I clearly see that the solution is not to curb renewables, but to learn from each incident, improve control systems, train new professionals, and demand transparency in analysis.
The technology is here. Science offers us the tools. We just need to rise to the challenge as a society. The negative alternative is to remain trapped in misinformation, short-termism, and vested interests. And honestly, in the midst of a climate emergency that we're already feeling in our cities, countryside, and coasts, that alternative should no longer be an option for anyone.
I hope we change, and quickly.
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