Spain’s 100% renewable energy milestone was followed soon afterwards by a historic blackout – Coincidence? On April 16, 2025, Spain celebrated a green energy triumph. Just twelve days later, the lights went out across the entire country.

April 16: Spain’s first weekday of 100% renewable power. In a historic achievement, Spain’s national grid was powered entirely by renewable energy on Tuesday, April 16, the first time this has ever happened on a busy weekday.

Between 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., wind, solar, and hydro met 100 per cent of mainland electricity demand, according to Red Eléctrica (cited by PV Magazine).

At 11:15 a.m., wind and solar alone produced 100.63 per cent of demand.

April 28: The Iberian Peninsula goes dark

But just 12 days later, on April 28 at 12:35 p.m., Spain and Portugal experienced one of their largest-ever blackouts. The power cut also affected parts of France, Andorra, Belgium, and the Netherlands, as the Iberian grid disconnected from the wider European network (ENTSO-E).

According to Red Eléctrica, a ‘very strong oscillation’ in the grid triggered the disconnection. Portugal’s REN blamed ‘extreme temperature variations’ that disrupted high-voltage power lines.

Power restoration began many hours later, but the sudden collapse sent shockwaves through the peninsula.  Power restoration began quickly, but the sudden collapse sent shockwaves through the peninsula.

Is Spain’s renewable power to blame?

While the cause is still under investigation, experts are raising concerns about grid stability in high-renewable systems.

At the time of the blackout, solar was generating 60 per cent of Spain’s electricity, according to Bloomberg’s Javier Blas, cited in Daily Mail.

The issue? Solar and wind rely on inverter-based technology, which lacks the ‘rotating inertia’ of traditional coal, gas, or hydro plants. These older systems act as shock absorbers during grid disturbances. Without them, grids become faster, but more fragile.

A 2022 ENTSO-E report had already warned that low-inertia systems significantly affect a grid’s ability to maintain balance during disruptions.

Despite the blackout, 2024 was a landmark year for renewables in Spain: ‘There will never be blackouts’: A promise broken by Pedro Sánchez

Amid the chaos, an old video of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez resurfaced online and quickly went viral.

In 2022, during Europe’s gas crisis, Sánchez told the Senate that warnings of blackouts were ‘apocalyptic’ and politically motivated. He promised no power outages, no electricity rationing, and total energy security for Spain.

Now, that speech is resurfacing for all the wrong reasons. On April 28, Sánchez reappeared more than five hours after the blackout to say:

‘We don’t have conclusive evidence about the source, but we’re not ruling out any hypothesis.’

His vagueness has done little to calm the public, especially as 15 GW, that’s about 60 per cent of Spain’s total electricity, was lost in five seconds. Red Eléctrica also promised ‘No risk of blackout’, just 3 weeks ago

In another twist, Red Eléctrica themselves posted on April 9, 2025, that: ‘There is no risk of a blackout and Red Eléctrica guarantees supply.’ (Cited by Antena 3 Noticias.)

The irony is now impossible to ignore. Many are now asking: Has Spain moved too fast on renewables without investing enough in grid stability?

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