One year after the April 28, 2025, blackout that paralyzed power for 36 million consumers across Spain, Portugal, and parts of France, Spain's CNMC has escalated sanctions against Red Eléctrica and utilities including Endesa, Iberdrola, and Naturgy. Reinforced grid operations have spiked electricity costs, yet no structural reforms or political accountability have emerged.
Exactly one year ago, on April 28, 2025, at 12:32, a cascade failure caused a total blackout impacting 30 million supply points in Spain, 6 million in Portugal, and southern France areas. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez blamed oscillations from southwest solar farms leading to a 15 GW drop, against only 5 GW synchronous generation.
Reports from government, REE, and Entso-e described multifactorial causes—overvoltages, premature disconnections, programming errors—without pinpointing blame. REE faulted utilities; firms countered with operator issues.
In response, CNMC launched 20 proceedings on April 17, 2026 (one very serious against REE), followed by 35 more last week targeting similar voltage control failures on other dates (detailed in prior coverage). Not all tie directly to the blackout, but they stem from the probe.
To avert repeats, REE's 'reinforced operation' ramps up gas plants, ballooning costs: grid restrictions hit 3.9 billion euros in 2025 (up from 2.7B in 2024), gas at 54.58 €/MWh (from 34.67). A parliamentary commission now probes the incident amid calls for reforms, but none have materialized and no officials have resigned.
