Spanish power distributor Red Eléctrica announced on X early Tuesday that 99% of the country's power capacity had been restored following a daylong, unprecedented blackout that plunged much of Europe's Iberian Peninsula into chaos and darkness.
As of 0700 local time, Red Eléctrica stated:
99.95% of the demand recovered (25,794MW).
We continue working from the Electrical Control Center for the complete normalization of the system.
The outage paralyzed digital payment systems, disrupted communications, and brought various modes of transportation networks to an apocalyptic standstill. While a Spanish judge has launched an investigation into whether a cyberattack was responsible, early indications suggest the culprit is likely net zero.
Here's an excerpt from Michael Shellenberger at PUBLIC, who provided an uncomfortable truth about the unhinged liberals in Europe who have been hellbent on retiring fossil fuel power and nuclear generation plants, swapping for unreliable solar and wind:
Despite all these warnings, political and regulatory energy in Europe remained focused on accelerating renewable deployment, not upgrading the grid's basic stability. In Spain, solar generation continued to climb rapidly through 2023 and early 2024.
Coal plants closed. Nuclear units retired.
On many spring days by 2025, Spain's midday solar generation exceeded its total afternoon demand, leading to frequent negative electricity prices.
The system was being pushed to the limit.
And today, at 12:35 pm, it broke.
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Spain's blackout wasn't just a technical failure. It was a political and strategic failure.
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Unless Spain rapidly invests in synthetic inertia, maintains and expands its nuclear fleet, or adds some other new form of heavy rotating generation, the risk of future blackouts will only grow worse.
Red Eléctrica has refused to speculate on the cause of the worst blackout in Spain's history. However, REN, the Portuguese grid operator, said Monday that a rare atmospheric phenomenon in Spain caused by extreme temperature variations was the most likely cause.
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told reporters that the power blackout was caused by an issue in the European grid. He described it as a "strong oscillation" but did not provide further details.
Sánchez noted that power was pulled from Morocco and France to restore power in southern and northern parts of Spain. Local grids were adding the production of hydroelectric and combined cycle thermal power plants to stabilize the grid.
Spain's green energy revolution actually achieved net zero yesterday: blackout.
Great job, Western liberals, on the deranged march to net-zero, culminating in the implosion of part of Europe's power grid. Meanwhile, China is adding record amounts of coal and nuclear power capacity. It's almost as if the entire green movement is about de-growth — and, in some cases, seems like sabotage fueled by sheer stupidity.
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