At 10:15 h this Wednesday, a new session of the board and spokespersons of the blackout commission has been held, where new audios have been able to be heard, this time corresponding to the same day of the blackout.
These are recordings that had been destroyed, but that the spokespersons were able to transcribe by hand to continue with their work, and that are now attached. After listening to these audios, PP sources have confirmed to Demócrata that the work of the Commission will be considered concluded.
"Despite the lies and the government's attempts to conceal, thanks to some expert appearances and, especially, to the audios we learned about yesterday and today, we have managed to learn the truth of what happened with the blackout: Sánchez's Government —the PP maintains— knew it could happen, disregarded the warnings, and then tried to hide that the blackout occurred due to photovoltaic oscillations," party sources have declared.
In the conversations recorded on the day of the blackout, there are several references to Red Eléctrica, recognizing that the problem came from the photovoltaic installations and that they were aware that the situation was “complicated” until the system collapsed.
The literal transcription of the conversations, which were initially deleted, between Red Eléctrica and the electricity operator is reproduced below. In said dialogue, it is observed how difficulties grew from the initial warning of a fall in the Cañaveral substation until the blackout occurred, at 12:32 p.m. on April 28, 2025.
CONVERSATION
Fall substation Cañaveral 28/04/2025 at 09:54h
1) -REE: Hello. Look, I have asked the colleagues and we in the transport network have not had any incident.
-Electrical Operator: ok.
2) -REE: But they did have a problem in their substation. In Pizarroso, in Cañaveral.
-Electrical Operator: Okay.
3) -REE: It was around this time, so it may coincide with what is in Almaraz.
-Electrical Operator: Okay, well, I'll mention it.
Grid oscillations due to solar. Especially in Andalusia 28/04/2025 at 11:31 h
4)- REE: Yes?
-Electrical Operator: Yes, hello. I'm calling you because Arcos tells us that it is having many voltage oscillations…
5) -REE: Yes.
-Electrical Operator: I don't know if something has happened in the area or I don't know what... or photovoltaic.
6) -REE: No, it has happened no. Or it is.... in principle everything... come on, everything that is the area is being affected a lot by the solar issue that is causing... yes, well... the voltage goes up and down, you know? It's because of the solar issue.
-Electrical Operator: It's because of the variation in solar production, right?
7) -REE: Yes, for the issue of regulation, well, solar well, it enters, leaves and… in the end well, it causes… that the voltage goes up or goes down.
-Electrical Operator: Okay.
8) -REE: I'm telling you it's widespread, not only in the Arcos area, throughout Andalusia.
Grid oscillations by the photovoltaic M 28/04/2025 at 12:13h
9) -Electrical Operator: I'm calling you because Trillo is having quite a few voltage oscillations, I don't know if it will be due to photovoltaic topic like in other places or something has happened...
-REE: Yes, the only thing is that Trillo in principle was not coupled, right? But rather they are noticing…
10) -Electrical Operator: Yes.
-REE: Okay, okay. Yes, it's true, there are oscillations throughout the system, huh?
-Electrical Operator: By photovoltaics.
11)-REE: Because of photovoltaics, because they are now oscillating just like we don't know, but... very large variations of photovoltaics due to prices, exchanges... few groups with inertia in the system... (SIGHS) the thing is fucked.
-Electrical Operator: ok, perfect. I'll mention it
12)- REE: So far.
The operator warns that Almaraz can fire. It is the 28/04/2025 at 12:26h
13) -Electrical Operator: hello
-REE: Hello
14)- Electrical Operator: Almaraz tells me it's varying a lot, that if we continue like this, it's going to trip the plant.
-REE: No, man, let's see… this is not an ideal situation, but come on… we are doing what we can within our possibilities to prevent the system from continuing to oscillate.
15) -Electrical Operator: Well, when I hung up with you, I called them, and he tells me: "It seems that the system seems more stable, no, no, it oscillates again, if we continue like this; this is going to end up tripping, come on."
-REE: Within the possibilities we have, we are executing all measures to correct the oscillation. What notice period does Castejón 2 have, which is the one that has been coupled tonight…?
16)- Electrical Operator: I ask, let's see. What time do you want?
-REE: as soon as possible. Electrical Operator: Okay, I'll ask and call you back.
The blackout occurs. It is 04/28/2025 at 12:32h
17)- Electrical Operator: Hello!
-REE: Yes, hello.
18) -Electrical Operator: yes, You had asked us for prior notice from Castejón two.
-REE: Yes.
19) -Electrical Operator: they tell me that at 15:00, if we confirm to them now, they could be coupled.
-REE: Fuck, fuck, fuck, come on, fuck off, fuck off! We are disconnecting.
20) -Electrical Operator: Yes, everything has gone out for us too, okay? What do you need?
-REE: No, Nothing.
21) -Electrical Operator: Everything has gone.
-REE: Okay. Come on, it's gone. See you later.
22) -Electrical Operator: Alright, thanks. Until now.
Broker backs Red Eléctrica
The president of Redeia, Beatriz Corredor, once again backed this Wednesday in the Senate the management of Red Eléctrica de España (REE) during the blackout of April 28, 2025. She based her position on the final report of the panel of experts of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (Entso-E), known last week, and stressed that there were “other actors” in the electricity system who “did not comply”.
In a heated appearance before the Senate's investigation Commission on the blackout, Corredor reiterated that no report “imputes to Red Eléctrica any action, any conduct or any non-compliance with any regulation, neither during nor after the blackout, that would lead to the electrical zero”.
In view of this, he highlighted that other participants who should contribute to the system's security through voltage control “were absorbing less reactive power than the regulations impose on them”. “As is accredited in the report (from Entso-E) when the famous parameter Q,75% is mentioned”, he recalled, alluding to the statistical indicator on the fulfillment of the reactive power required from generators.
On her return to the Upper House to respond about the electrical zero, Corredor twice requested the protection of the Committee president after feeling accused of lying and after the PP senator Miguel Ángel Castellón called her “lady of the blackout”, an expression that was withdrawn after a brief recess.
At the start of the session, Castellón focused on the audios between operators of Red Eléctrica and other companies, recorded in the previous days and on the very day of the blackout, which were sent to the Commission last Monday for their listening or reading in a reserved session, and questioned Corredor about their content.
"Some audios from months ago"
About those audios, the president of Redeia pointed out that they were already leaked “months ago” to the media and she described them as biased, considering that “they are absolutely not a technical proof of anything.”
Throughout his intervention, Corredor repeatedly referred to the final report of the panel of European experts, which, he stressed, “coincides point by point with the account of facts provided by the system operator on June 18”. “Everything else is mere speculation,” he maintained, adding that Red Eléctrica has collaborated “fully” with the panel and with the rest of the ongoing investigations.
“Never have I said what central it is about”
During the appearance, Corredor explained that the oscillation recorded at 12:03 p.m. in a plant was “the first domino” of the incident, although she specified that she “never” revealed which power plant it was. “Nor have I ever identified the plant or the substation to which that plant evacuates power,” she stated.
He also insisted that it is demonstrated “in all reports that the system operator's programming was correct.” “At all times all security measures were taken and at all times, as expressly stated by the panel of experts, the N-1 criterion was met. What happens is that there were other participants in the electricity sector who did not comply,” he added.
He thus defended on several occasions that the system operator "performed the calculations it does every day and which, as has been accredited, were correct and within perfect safety parameters." He described the event of April 28 as "unprecedented, multifactorial and unpredictable."
Debate on a possible resignation
Questioned by Vox senator Fernando Carbonell about whether she considered leaving the position as an "ethical gesture", Corredor replied that "from the technical reports no responsibility is deduced on the part of Red Eléctrica".
“Red Eléctrica did not violate any regulation and there is no cause attributable to the company I chair that led to the blackout,” stressed the president of Redeia before the senators.
Regarding the reinforced operation with which the electrical system has been functioning since the blackout, whose cost he estimated at around 613 million euros, he indicated that it will be maintained “until it is necessary”.
The response of the minister
For her part, the third vice-president and minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Sara Aagesen, defended that it would be “a good exercise in transparency” for the companies involved to make all the information they have available about the power outage of April 28, 2025.
During his/her intervention in the Senate's investigation commission on electrical zero, he/she recalled that the Executive had already demanded at the time the dissemination of those data, but did not obtain the approval of the companies, “except for one, from Red Eléctrica de España (REE)”, he/she said.
For this reason, he reiterated on several occasions his call to companies to allow those details to be known. “I take this opportunity again in this Chamber to say that, almost a year later, it would be very interesting if companies, which own their own information, would make it public,” he stated before the senators.
In parallel, the president of the Commission, the Popular Party senator Francisco Javier Márquez, announced that already the audios corresponding to the day of the blackout have arrived at the Upper House, sent by the companies themselves, so that they can be listened to by the members of the Senate Commission.
Aagesen stressed that the Executive "had no warning, alert or signal" that would allow anticipating that on April 28 an electrical failure of that magnitude would occur and remarked that on that date the necessary regulatory and normative instruments already existed to have avoided the incident.