The Secretary of State for Energy, Joan Groizard, has reiterated that the power outage on April 28, 2025, was an "unforeseen and unpredictable" incident, and has emphasized that the Executive has introduced changes in the electrical system to leave as few "gaps" as possible and minimize the risk of "those improbable things" happening again.
During his speech before the Congressional Investigation Commission regarding the interruption of the electricity supply on April 28, 2025, Groizard coined the term "poltergeist" to describe an event "that was not even documented in academic literature" and that, he stated, "was not even contemplated in the operation manuals of the Spanish, European, or the rest of the world's electrical systems." "Therefore, yes, I have to reaffirm and reiterate that it was an unforeseen and unpredictable event," he emphasized.
Groizard defended the need to anticipate future failures after the 'blackout', pointing to the importance of clear regulation and compliance. In this context, he identified among the priorities of the Ministry for Ecological Transition the improvement of network supervision and the enhancement of voltage control. In his opinion, "the most important thing, I believe is critical, is the reinforcement of continuous monitoring of how voltage control is functioning, because we saw that it was critical."
The Energy official highlighted the regulatory advances and the incorporation of new measurement and real-time operation systems. He recalled that "as you know, we mandated the CNMC to produce a quarterly report on compliance with voltage control. The very approval of the operating procedure (P.O.) 7.4 entails real-time monitoring of obligations, including the traditional ones, those that already existed."
Regulatory delays and responsibilities in the blackout
Regarding the delay in processing by the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) of P.O. 7.4, designed to facilitate the participation of renewable energies in voltage control, Groizard placed the direct responsibility on the regulator. He pointed out that there were sector agents who even challenged the approval of the procedure and who might "not have an interest in having that regulation approved, because it was technically complex, of course, because it required system adaptations, or for other less confessable reasons."
Despite this, he insisted that on April 28, 2025, the electrical system "had the necessary regulatory and technical instruments to avoid what happened." "What would have been desirable, to have many other things? Of course, the more resources, the better," he added, defending the CNMC by stating that it cannot be "held responsible for the blackout" and reminding that "no one warned that what we can now call symptoms, but which at that moment were not known as symptoms, could be related to a structural problem that led to the electrical zero."
The Secretary of State also highlighted that electrical planning already incorporates new equipment, such as synchronous compensators and STATCOMs, which allow anticipating needs "that perhaps were not foreseen for this decade" and facilitate operating the grid more efficiently, reducing dependence on combined cycles.
Groizard also admitted that before the incident, each agent "felt competent only for their little piece" of responsibility. Therefore, the Government has reinforced the regulatory framework "so that it has to be perfectly protocolized how obligations are distributed in that area" and "we have increased the observability of the grid, defining what is called the observable grid, that is, forcing agents to exchange certain data with certain standards among themselves."
Storage and Major Energy Challenges
Groizard emphasized the push for energy storage as a key element to accompany the advancement of renewables. He assured that "the feeling we have is that in a matter of months, throughout next year, we will have a very, very big exponential leap in storage with batteries." In parallel, he indicated that the promotion of pumped hydro for long-term management continues, citing the recent authorization to Repsol to expand the pumping of Aguayo (Cantabria).
In his final assessment, the Secretary of State insisted that "ultimately, I believe that what happened was unforeseen and unpredictable, but the more we know and the more areas we have controlled, the less risk there is that those things we do not know we do not know may occur, because the improbable happens." He acknowledged that the electrical zero evidenced that "the improbable ends up happening" and defended the need to leave "less room for those improbable things," as this way "safer we will be in all scenarios."
Finally, he identified the deployment of renewables, electrification, and the reform of energy taxation as strategic challenges to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels. In this regard, he emphasized that "being able to articulate a sufficient consensus for a tax proposal that allows electricity to be more competitive than other energy vectors is the great national challenge we have."