The CEO of Endesa, José Bogas, assured this Monday that Red Eléctrica de España (REE) declined to study several overvoltage episodes in the network two months before the blackout of April 28, 2025, understanding that they did not constitute "any incident".
This statement is part of the conclusions that the head of the electric company has presented during his appearance before the Congressional Investigation Committee on the electric blackout registered a year ago. As he detailed, starting in 2025 the system began to suffer "tremendous" voltage surges, one of them on January 31.
The executive has stated that the electricity companies sent a letter on February 10 to the system operator to convene the Incident Analysis Group (GRAI), but Red Eléctrica rejected that request, understanding that what happened was not significant.
"On February 10, we asked Red Eléctrica to analyze the incident, and they say no, that it has not been any incident," explained Bogas before the parliamentary groups.
The reinforced operation was supposed to be the usual way
Next, Bogas has pointed out that the so-called reinforced operation of the electrical system, activated after the blackout to increase stability through greater use of conventional technologies, especially natural gas combined cycles, should have been applied as an ordinary regime and be in place before the electrical zero.
In this line, consider that the operator incurred in "recklessness" by not activating that operational scheme and keeping the network working at the limit of tension control despite previous warnings. "Recklessness for me is, well, not having realized this and having continued to believe that the tension could be maintained without anything happening," he has stressed.
Regarding that reinforced mode, the CEO has specified that Endesa has obtained an additional margin of 30 million euros, although it has suffered losses of 200 million euros in its commercialization activity.
REE "reacted late" on the day of the electrical blackout
In relation to Red Eléctrica's performance on the day of the blackout, Bogas stated that, in his opinion, the operator "reacted late" and should have incorporated more synchronous generation elements, in addition to requiring greater hydraulic production and requesting the start-up of an additional combined cycle.
Regarding the sanctioning files opened by the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) for possible infractions linked to the blackout, the head of Endesa has defended that the facilities pointed out by Competition (Biescas, Ondinas, Vandellós, Ascó, Mediano, Mequinenza and Ribarroja de Ebro) "did not contribute to the blackout".
Bogas has claimed the company's performance during the energy blackout and has insisted that none of these plants were responsible for the event, although he has pointed out that it will be necessary to analyze whether there was any type of non-compliance in the two years prior to the episode.
Regarding the megawatts volume of Endesa that have requested the system operator the enablement for voltage control, it has indicated that 100% of the facilities that can opt for it have done so and they trust that they will be enabled this semester, specifying that around 50% has already been activated.
Criticism of the Entso-E report and defense of renewables
During his speech, Bogas also questioned the report prepared by the panel of European experts (Entso-E), considering that there is a "very clear conflict of interest" due to Red Eléctrica's participation in said group.
He added that Endesa has sent a letter of protest for the "shortcomings" that, in his opinion, the document presents and has announced that the company will take legal action in this regard.
On the other hand, the executive has stressed that renewable energies have helped to lower the cost of electricity in Spain. He recalled that in 2019 electricity in the country was more expensive than in France or Germany, a situation that, he said, has now been reversed.
Thus, it has pointed out that if in 2019 electricity in Spain was 22% more expensive than in France, now the difference stands at around 2-3%, while Spain currently has a price for electricity around 20% lower than that of Germany.
"Renewables have decisively contributed to improving the environment and being more competitive. Without any doubt," Bogas emphasized, who, however, declared himself pro-nuclear due to the "stability" that atomic power plants bring to the electrical system. Furthermore, he warned that the closure of nuclear power plants will be replaced by gas plants, which, in his opinion, will cause an increase in electricity prices and an increase in emissions.