Latest news with #Aelec
Reuters
18-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Spain's energy lobby calls for higher proposed return on grid investment
MADRID, July 18 (Reuters) - A proposal by Spain's competition watchdog CNMC to raise the guaranteed return on investments in power grids to 6.46% is not enough to stop Spain losing much-needed capital to other countries, power utilities lobby Aelec warned on Friday. A massive blackout that hit Spain and Portugal on April 28 reignited a debate about investment needs in the country's power networks and the return on such investments. Power companies invest in grids in exchange for a stable return, which in Spain is currently set at 5.58%, with consumers ultimately paying that guaranteed rate through their electricity bills. Aelec said the guaranteed return on investments for electricity distribution should be around 7.5%, a level in line with the rates being applied in other countries. "We run the risk of capital flight and investment being attracted away from Spain to other European Union countries, thereby jeopardising the implementation of investments for the energy transition," Marta Castro, Aelec's head of regulation, told reporters. The new remuneration will cover the 2026-2031 period. The CNMC proposal is open to feedback until August 4. Spain's grid operator REE, owned by Redeia ( opens new tab, manages the trunk grid, and carries out investments envisaged in government plans. Power companies including Iberdrola ( opens new tab and Endesa ( opens new tab control and invest in local distribution grids, which take electricity to the final customers. Energy giants like Iberdrola and Enel have increased their focus in recent years on expanding and upgrading power grids while taking a more selective approach to renewable energy projects.
Reuters
23-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Spanish utilities lobby says power plants complied with grid operator during blackout
MADRID, June 23 (Reuters) - Spanish power utilities lobby Aelec said on Monday that Spain's power plants complied with orders from national grid operator REE during the massive blackout across Spain and Portugal on April 28 and should not be blamed for causing the outage. Earlier this month, a government report found that REE's ( opens new tab failure to calculate the correct mix of energy was one of the factors hindering the grid's ability to cope with the power outage.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Spain's grid operator blames power plants for blackout, disputes miscalculation
By Pietro Lombardi MADRID (Reuters) -Spanish grid operator Redeia blamed power plants for the massive blackout that affected the Iberian peninsula in April, as it disputed a government report that said its failure to calculate the correct energy mix was a key factor. While agreeing that a surge in voltage was the immediate cause of the outage, REE-owner Redeia blamed it on some conventional power plants - thermal power plants using coal, gas and nuclear - for failing to help maintain an appropriate voltage. "Based on our calculation, there were enough voltage control capabilities planned" by Redeia, operations chief Concha Sanchez told a news briefing on Wednesday. "Had conventional power plants done their job in controlling the voltage there would have been no blackout," she said. Redeia, which is partly state-owned, also discovered anomalies in the disconnection of power plants in the run-up to the April 28 outage, even though voltage in the system was within legal limits, Sanchez said. A combined-cycle plant that was supposed to provide stability to the system disconnected in the first seconds of the blackout when it should not have, while there was also an anomalous growth in demand from the transport network, she said. Aelec, which represents Spain's main electricity companies including Iberdrola and Endesa, said on Wednesday that "claiming everything was done correctly" while blaming some power plants for the blackout was damaging to the sector's reputation. "The operator failed to safely cover all the system's needs," the lobby added. Redeia on Wednesday released its own full report on the causes of the outage, a day after the Spanish government published its findings. The government's report released on Tuesday said Redeia's miscalculation was one of the factors hindering the grid's ability to cope with a surge in voltage that led to the outage that caused gridlock in cities across the Iberian peninsula and left tens of thousands stranded on trains overnight or stuck in lifts. But Sanchez said the system was in "absolutely normal conditions" at noon just before the blackout and that adding another gas plant to the system to absorb additional voltage would have made no difference. Redeia Chair Beatriz Corredor told the same news briefing she had absolute faith in the company's calculations and that the operator had complied with all procedures and rules. "Red Electrica didn't breach any procedure and has acted diligently," Chief Executive Roberto Garcia Merino said at the briefing, adding that as a result he did not expect the company to face any claims.
Local Spain
18-06-2025
- Business
- Local Spain
Spain's grid operator and private firms blame each other for blackout
The continuing row is likely to extend debate over one of Europe's largest-ever power outages, which raised doubts about Spain's commitment to renewable energy and scheduled phase-out of nuclear power. A grid "overvoltage" triggered a "chain reaction" across mainland Spain and Portugal that downed the system on April 28, according to the government report released on Tuesday. Overvoltage is when there is too much electrical voltage in a network, overloading equipment and forcing protective systems to shut down parts of the grid. The government said the system "lacked sufficient voltage control capacity" and that Spanish grid operator Red Eléctrica (REE) and unnamed energy companies disconnected their plants "inappropriately... to protect their installations". REE had lowered its capacity to regulate tension that day, while electricity companies did not contribute as much as expected to control voltage through their power stations, according to the report. REE published its own report on Wednesday and said it "carried out the relevant calculations to schedule technical constraints, always ensuring that all groups comply with the obligations imposed by current regulations". If energy producers responsible for regulating the voltage "had met their tension control obligations... we would not have had a blackout", REE's operations director Concha Sánchez told a news conference. Aelec, an industry association representing power companies including sector giants Iberdrola and Endesa, said controlling tension "falls on Red Eléctrica, as the system operator". "We have evidence that power stations of Aelec members met the regulatory requirements in terms of controlling tension... even operating above the regulatory obligations to contribute to the stability of the electric system," it said in a statement. REE "had enough resources to guarantee the control of voltage... which it nevertheless decided not to dispatch", added Aelec, saying the operator "left the system in a situation of vulnerability".
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Spain's grid operator blames power plants for blackout, disputes miscalculation
By Pietro Lombardi MADRID (Reuters) -Spanish grid operator Redeia blamed power plants for the massive blackout that affected the Iberian peninsula in April, as it disputed a government report that said its failure to calculate the correct energy mix was a key factor. REE-owner Redeia's own investigation discovered anomalies in the disconnection of power plants on April 28 even though voltage in the system was within legal limits, operations chief Concha Sanchez told a news briefing on Wednesday. A combined-cycle plant that was supposed to provide stability to the system disconnected in the first seconds of the blackout when it should not have, while there was also an anomalous growth in demand from the transport network, she said. "Based on our calculation, there was enough voltage control capabilities planned" by Redeia, she said. "Had conventional power plants done their job in controlling the voltage there would have been no blackout." Aelec, which represents Spain's main electricity companies including Iberdrola and Endesa, said in a statement on Tuesday it agreed that voltage control was the main cause of the outage, but said that, as system operator, Redeia was ultimately responsible for controlling voltage. The government's report released on Tuesday said Redeia's miscalculation was one of the factors hindering the grid's ability to cope with a surge in voltage that led to the outage that caused gridlock in cities across the Iberian peninsula and left tens of thousands stranded on trains overnight or stuck in lifts. But Sanchez said the system was in "absolutely normal conditions" at noon just before the blackout and that adding another gas plant to the system to absorb additional voltage would have made no difference. Redeia, which is partly state-owned, will release its own full report on the causes of the outage, its chair, Beatriz Corredor, told the same news briefing. Corredor said she had absolute faith in Redeia's calculations and that the operator had complied with all procedures and rules.
