The government “categorically” denies that the massive power outage on April 28 was the result of an “experiment” conducted by the government before the system collapsed, as highlighted in an article in the British media outlet The Telegraph. “The information is false,” emphasize government sources, who are censoring the dissemination of this news in the Spanish media.
Citing sources in Brussels, the British media outlet claims that the Spanish authorities conducted an “experiment” before the blackout to “explore how far they could increase dependence on renewable energy” with the goal of phasing out nuclear reactors in Spain by 2027.
Government sources consulted by 20minutos “categorically” deny this. So far, the investigation into the blackout, led by Sara Aagesen’s Ministry of Ecological Transition and Red Eléctrica, has pointed to faults in the “firewalls” or a power surge. However, there is no hypothesis indicating any kind of test or experiment prior to the blackout, as the third vice president explained.
In any case, the investigation will also be conducted independently in Brussels. Spain has two months to submit a report to the European Commission summarizing the known causes, effects, and improvements already observed. Furthermore, EU regulations require a more comprehensive technical investigation if the incident is classified as serious on a scale of 0 to 3.
If classified as serious, an independent technical panel of experts will be established, led by a grid operator from a non-affected country. This panel includes grid operators from the countries involved, as well as regulatory authorities. This panel will also serve to investigate the causes of the chaos that occurred on the peninsula on the day of the blackout.
Although the European Commission is not part of the panel, it can make recommendations and amend regulations after receiving the final report, which will include both causes and suggestions for improvement.
