The power outage experienced on April 28, with the sudden disconnection of more than 15 GW of generation, has been a wake-up call for the entire energy sector. The partial collapse of the system, caused by a chain of disconnections due to frequency fluctuations, has highlighted the vulnerability of an energy model that is not prepared to manage such a high penetration of renewables without sufficient support, stability, and rapid response mechanisms.
FEGiCAT warns that this is not an anecdotal incident, but a structural symptom that requires clear and bold decisions. “What we have experienced is not a failure of renewables, but of the model that should accompany them. If we want a clean system, we must also make it resilient, flexible and distributed. And this will only be possible if we make the necessary investments and structural reforms”, says Raul Rodriguez, Director General of FEGiCAT.
The blackout coincided with a dangerous combination of factors still pending confirmation by the system operator. This left the system exposed and without the capacity to respond immediately, at a time when it was exporting energy to neighbouring countries and relying on occasional support from interconnections such as France.
Faced with this reality, it is necessary to reinforce the deployment of self-consumption with batteries as a measure of distributed resilience—but always with systems capable of operating in “island” mode when the grid fails. Most current installations are automatically disconnected in the event of an outage for safety reasons, and therefore cannot guarantee autonomous supply. For this reason, we call for the promotion of modalities that are truly useful in situations such as the one experienced, and that allow users to contribute to the stability of the entire system.
It is also essential to provide the system with network-wide storage infrastructure and to review the use of dispatchable resources. Hydropower, which could have acted as a key stabilizer during the incident, was left out of the system due to market logic. This raises a legitimate question about whether certain strategic assets should operate under public service criteria. “It is not a question of ownership, but of responsibility: when and how should these power plants act? This is the discussion we need to open,” says Raúl Rodríguez.
Another major deficit highlighted by the blackout is the lack of public data and open monitoring systems. Today, knowledge of what is happening on the network depends almost exclusively on information provided by operators and distributors. For this reason, FEGiCAT proposes the promotion of a “non-illuminated” public infrastructure—that is, not intrusive or active—that allows us to understand in real time how the network behaves, anticipate risks, and act in a coordinated way in the general interest.
“The response to what has happened cannot be fear or backtracking. On the contrary. We have to bet on a renewable system, but also a safe, distributed system with public access to information. What is at stake is energy sovereignty, competitiveness and citizens’ trust,” concludes Rodríguez.
The blackout of April 28 must be, above all, a turning point—a moment to strengthen the system’s assets, correct its vulnerabilities, and move towards a smart, open, and sustainable energy model, prepared for the challenges of the twenty-first century.
About FEGiCAT:
The Federation of Installers’ Guilds of Catalonia (FEGICAT), constituted in 2017, represents more than 5,200 installation companies operating in various specialities: electricity, gas, water, air conditioning, renewable energies, among others. With 26,000 workers and 18 associated guilds, FEGiCAT works to improve the competitiveness of installation companies and to channel initiatives that strengthen the sector.
