Here is a short article from the website of the conservative opposition party (GPP) https://www.pp.es/. I used the website search capability to search for the Spanish phrase "emergia nuclear." I configured my Google Chrome browser to automatically translate from Spanish to English.
"The GPP points out that nuclear energy is essential for a secure electricity supply and demands a reversal of the government's planned closure of the power plants." May 17, 2025
In the plenary debate on the Popular (Party) Group's (GPP's) Bill
The GPP's Energy spokesperson in Congress, Juan Diego Requena, warns of the irreversible risks of the nuclear closure that the Executive intends to carry out, and therefore urges it to listen at least to the PSOE of Extremadura, which asks that the Almaraz plant not be closed.
He emphasizes that, as of today, there are closure orders for four power plants in our country and that the measure would endanger the security of supply and would increase the cost of electricity, as warned by "all the independent reports that have evaluated it and which assure that the price of electricity will rise, especially for industry."
He adds that the EU and organizations such as the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the International Energy Agency defend that nuclear energy is a green energy that plays a leading role in the ecological transition.
"If we didn't have this energy, our electrical system would be less environmentally friendly, it would cause blackouts, as has happened, it would skyrocket the electricity bill and lead to the ruin of the regions that depend on it," he emphasizes....
Red Eléctrica just acknowledged receipt of my email. I was required to send a reply accepting their handling of my personal information, in compliance with EU directives.
I have read the report from the Spanish transmission system operator red electrica twice and made a chronological list of the main events to help me understand what happened on April 28. There were 4 phases to the collapse:
A- It started with voltage oscillations at 12:03; the correcting actions resulted in a considerable voltage rise across the whole country starting at 12.22. See EVENTS 1 and 2 in report
B- At 12:32:57 a transformer tripped. EVENT 3 in the report which states “ It could, once again, be inferred that the cause lies in the generator transformer tap setting. As the system was recovering from previously low voltages, the transformer was likely operating with a tap position configured to maintain appropriate voltage levels at the 220 kV collector substation and the associated evacuation network. As voltages began to rise, the tap changers may not have responded quickly enough, potentially resulting in overvoltages on the secondary side without corresponding high voltages on the primary side of the transformer.”
C- Things started to cascade out of control from 12:33:16. EVENTS 4 and 5. Multiple generators tripped out as voltages continued to rise. It was later found that some trips were premature and outside the requirements to continue producing power for 60 minutes of overvoltage or they tripped at too low a voltage.
D- Just 11 seconds later at 12:33:27,300 the voltage at 400 kV grid fell below 1 kV, marking in this moment the TOTAL BLACKOUT of the system.
The main thrust of the report and its recommendations were related to 1) conventional plant failing to manage voltage as required by the operator code and 2) the robustness of intermittent renewables plant dealing with voltage swings.
The report does mention Inertia. A key finding was: “The incident was NOT caused by a lack of system inertia. Rather, it was triggered by a voltage issue and the cascading disconnection of renewable generation plants, as previously indicated. Higher inertia would have only resulted in a slightly slower frequency decline. However, due to the massive generation loss caused by voltage instability, the system would still have been unrecoverable.”
IMHO the evidence in the report points to issues with voltage control rather than inertia. I would be interested to hear the technical reasons as to why you think that inertia was the main problem that triggered the Iberia blackout.
I concur with the thesis that running a grid network with 70% or more intermittent renewables exposes a Network Operator to many more difficulties than running a network with say 50-50% conventional power plant (including hydro).
Dear Alan: Thank you for your summary of the REE report. The first event would not have occurred if there was sufficient synchronous grid inertia (SGI) in their system. The REE claim that the event was not caused by a lack of system inertia is not supported by the facts - or independent engineering analyses.
The key change which I reference in my comments is after April 28, 2025, REE added significant amounts of mid-day SGI and increased the curtailment of solar and wind. There have not been any Iberian Peninsula blackouts since April 28, 2025.
I've been able to identify a newspaper that publishes opposition articles. The name of the conservative newspaper is ABC. I'be already sent a copy to a journalist contact I obtained. I believe the majority of the newspapers in Spain are controlled by the party in power. The name of the party in power in Spain is "Socialist." I believe most Americans fail to appreciate the relative freedom of the press we enjoy in the United States. P.S. Spain is nominally a monarchy.
Despite the Popular Party (PP) having achieved significant gains and securing the most votes in the 2023 Spanish general election, they are not currently in control of the Spanish government because they failed to win an absolute majority in the Congress of Deputies.
Here's a breakdown of the situation:
2023 Election Results: The PP won the most seats (136) in the Congress of Deputies, followed by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) with 122 seats.
No Absolute Majority: To form a government, a party or coalition needs 176 seats in the Congress of Deputies. The PP and its potential coalition partner, Vox, only secured 169 seats, falling short of the required majority.
Coalition Negotiations: Since no single party achieved a majority, coalition negotiations were necessary.
PSOE Forms Coalition: The current Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez (PSOE), successfully formed a coalition government with the left-wing Sumar party and secured the support of other regional and leftist parties, allowing him to remain in power despite the PP's electoral victory. This coalition government collectively holds 179 seats.
Regional and Separatist Parties: The support of various parties, including Catalan nationalist parties, was crucial for Sánchez to form a government, which involved negotiations and concessions, particularly regarding regional autonomy.
In summary: While the PP holds a majority in the Senate and numerous regional governments are led by the party, the Spanish government is a parliamentary monarchy, and the power to form a government lies with the Congress of Deputies, where the PP lacked the necessary majority. As a result, a coalition led by the PSOE is currently in power.
The next general election in Spain will occur no later than July, 2027. The first unit at Almaraz is also scheduled to be shut down in 2027. There are negotiations to extend the life of Almaraz, but they have not yet been successful.
Here is a short article from the website of the conservative opposition party (GPP) https://www.pp.es/. I used the website search capability to search for the Spanish phrase "emergia nuclear." I configured my Google Chrome browser to automatically translate from Spanish to English.
"The GPP points out that nuclear energy is essential for a secure electricity supply and demands a reversal of the government's planned closure of the power plants." May 17, 2025
In the plenary debate on the Popular (Party) Group's (GPP's) Bill
The GPP's Energy spokesperson in Congress, Juan Diego Requena, warns of the irreversible risks of the nuclear closure that the Executive intends to carry out, and therefore urges it to listen at least to the PSOE of Extremadura, which asks that the Almaraz plant not be closed.
He emphasizes that, as of today, there are closure orders for four power plants in our country and that the measure would endanger the security of supply and would increase the cost of electricity, as warned by "all the independent reports that have evaluated it and which assure that the price of electricity will rise, especially for industry."
He adds that the EU and organizations such as the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the International Energy Agency defend that nuclear energy is a green energy that plays a leading role in the ecological transition.
"If we didn't have this energy, our electrical system would be less environmentally friendly, it would cause blackouts, as has happened, it would skyrocket the electricity bill and lead to the ruin of the regions that depend on it," he emphasizes....
Red Eléctrica just acknowledged receipt of my email. I was required to send a reply accepting their handling of my personal information, in compliance with EU directives.
I have read the report from the Spanish transmission system operator red electrica twice and made a chronological list of the main events to help me understand what happened on April 28. There were 4 phases to the collapse:
A- It started with voltage oscillations at 12:03; the correcting actions resulted in a considerable voltage rise across the whole country starting at 12.22. See EVENTS 1 and 2 in report
B- At 12:32:57 a transformer tripped. EVENT 3 in the report which states “ It could, once again, be inferred that the cause lies in the generator transformer tap setting. As the system was recovering from previously low voltages, the transformer was likely operating with a tap position configured to maintain appropriate voltage levels at the 220 kV collector substation and the associated evacuation network. As voltages began to rise, the tap changers may not have responded quickly enough, potentially resulting in overvoltages on the secondary side without corresponding high voltages on the primary side of the transformer.”
C- Things started to cascade out of control from 12:33:16. EVENTS 4 and 5. Multiple generators tripped out as voltages continued to rise. It was later found that some trips were premature and outside the requirements to continue producing power for 60 minutes of overvoltage or they tripped at too low a voltage.
D- Just 11 seconds later at 12:33:27,300 the voltage at 400 kV grid fell below 1 kV, marking in this moment the TOTAL BLACKOUT of the system.
The main thrust of the report and its recommendations were related to 1) conventional plant failing to manage voltage as required by the operator code and 2) the robustness of intermittent renewables plant dealing with voltage swings.
The report does mention Inertia. A key finding was: “The incident was NOT caused by a lack of system inertia. Rather, it was triggered by a voltage issue and the cascading disconnection of renewable generation plants, as previously indicated. Higher inertia would have only resulted in a slightly slower frequency decline. However, due to the massive generation loss caused by voltage instability, the system would still have been unrecoverable.”
IMHO the evidence in the report points to issues with voltage control rather than inertia. I would be interested to hear the technical reasons as to why you think that inertia was the main problem that triggered the Iberia blackout.
I concur with the thesis that running a grid network with 70% or more intermittent renewables exposes a Network Operator to many more difficulties than running a network with say 50-50% conventional power plant (including hydro).
The official report is here: https://d1n1o4zeyfu21r.cloudfront.net/WEB_Incident_%2028A_SpanishPeninsularElectricalSystem_18june25.pdf
Dear Alan: Thank you for your summary of the REE report. The first event would not have occurred if there was sufficient synchronous grid inertia (SGI) in their system. The REE claim that the event was not caused by a lack of system inertia is not supported by the facts - or independent engineering analyses.
The key change which I reference in my comments is after April 28, 2025, REE added significant amounts of mid-day SGI and increased the curtailment of solar and wind. There have not been any Iberian Peninsula blackouts since April 28, 2025.
I also noted the independent analyses diagnosing the problem as a lack of SGI in Spain. Most notably, energy reporter Robert Bryce was a guest on June 6, 2025 on the Tom Matt Show. The episode is titled, "Spain Drain - Did Alternative Energy Cause a Blackout? " https://www.tommattshow.com/spain-drain-did-alternative-energy-cause-a-blackout-robert-bryce See also Robert Bryce's June 24, 2025 comments regarding Spain's lack of SGI referenced here via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jacob-williams-780aa637_robert-bryce-this-is-spot-on-adding-activity-7343291085567193089-Vx9H/
What about forwarding your remarks to the Spanish press?
I've been able to identify a newspaper that publishes opposition articles. The name of the conservative newspaper is ABC. I'be already sent a copy to a journalist contact I obtained. I believe the majority of the newspapers in Spain are controlled by the party in power. The name of the party in power in Spain is "Socialist." I believe most Americans fail to appreciate the relative freedom of the press we enjoy in the United States. P.S. Spain is nominally a monarchy.
Despite the Popular Party (PP) having achieved significant gains and securing the most votes in the 2023 Spanish general election, they are not currently in control of the Spanish government because they failed to win an absolute majority in the Congress of Deputies.
Here's a breakdown of the situation:
2023 Election Results: The PP won the most seats (136) in the Congress of Deputies, followed by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) with 122 seats.
No Absolute Majority: To form a government, a party or coalition needs 176 seats in the Congress of Deputies. The PP and its potential coalition partner, Vox, only secured 169 seats, falling short of the required majority.
Coalition Negotiations: Since no single party achieved a majority, coalition negotiations were necessary.
PSOE Forms Coalition: The current Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez (PSOE), successfully formed a coalition government with the left-wing Sumar party and secured the support of other regional and leftist parties, allowing him to remain in power despite the PP's electoral victory. This coalition government collectively holds 179 seats.
Regional and Separatist Parties: The support of various parties, including Catalan nationalist parties, was crucial for Sánchez to form a government, which involved negotiations and concessions, particularly regarding regional autonomy.
In summary: While the PP holds a majority in the Senate and numerous regional governments are led by the party, the Spanish government is a parliamentary monarchy, and the power to form a government lies with the Congress of Deputies, where the PP lacked the necessary majority. As a result, a coalition led by the PSOE is currently in power.
The next general election in Spain will occur no later than July, 2027. The first unit at Almaraz is also scheduled to be shut down in 2027. There are negotiations to extend the life of Almaraz, but they have not yet been successful.