Dylan Wagemans
SPANISH Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has launched a fierce attack on what he calls the ‘pro-nuclear lobby’, claiming there is a ‘gigantic manipulation’ underway to blame renewable energy for the historic blackout that paralysed Spain on April 28.
Despite not yet having a definitive explanation for the country’s worst-ever power outage, Sanchez has doubled down on his defence of renewables and warned of an ideological campaign to discredit green energy.
While admitting that answers may take time to emerge, the Socialist leader insisted on defending his government’s energy policy with what he called ‘technical arguments’, turning his fire on the opposition PP and Vox parties, who favour extending the life of Spain’s nuclear plants.
Sanchez dodged direct questions about the cause of the blackout, instead responding with data to support his energy model and accusing his opponents of serving the interests of the powerful energy companies that own nuclear plants.
He labelled PP and Vox as ‘amateur lobbyists’ for big utilities.
What is known so far is that the problem originated in Extremadura, a region with a high concentration of solar farms.
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Spain’s grid operator, Red Electrica, has said it is ‘very possible’ that the generation initially affected was solar.
At the time of the outage, solar power accounted for 59% of the country’s electricity mix, followed by wind (12%), nuclear (11%), and gas (5%), according to Reuters.
However, experts say the blackout was not solely due to the sudden loss of solar energy.
A critical factor was the disconnection from continental Europe’s grid.
When French operators saw instability in the Iberian system, they shut off the link to Spain entirely to protect the wider European electricity network.
