Energy crisis on the Iberian Peninsula: a wake-up call for resilience

Last month’s power cuts across Spain and Portugal highlighted critical vulnerabilities in their energy infrastructure and the need for enhanced energy resilience due to increasing demand and an evolving energy landscape.

The overarching cause of the outage is unknown, but it’s likely to be a combination of factors, including a dependence on renewable energy sources and an aging power grid.

The political fallout

The blackouts triggered criticism by opposition leaders of an overenthusiastic reliance on renewable energy and insufficient investment in grid infrastructure, but Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez defended his energy model.

Greg Jackson, Octopus Energy CEO, capitalised on this opportunity to praise the flexibility of UK infrastructure, suggesting Spain and Portugal may have been able to absorb the shocks that caused a grid failure if they matched the UK’s efforts.

Jackson warns that the widespread criticism of renewables will lead to countries “banning the stuff that will save us”. With UK households compensating windfarms for pausing electricity generation where the grid cannot handle the full output and the US government halting the production of wind energy, it’s unsurprising that we’re seeing a rise in scepticism around net zero in English politics.

Steps toward a more resilient future

The Iberian Peninsula’s experience serves as a cautionary tale for Europe and beyond. With half of the European Union’s grid infrastructure over 40 years old, the European Commission has estimated a need for investment worth $2.0-2.3 trillion by 2050 to cope with the growing demand for electricity and to avoid further blackouts.

As the transition to renewable energy accelerates, it’s imperative that investments in grid modernisation, cross-border interconnections, and energy storage are prioritised to ensure a reliable and resilient energy future. Only through comprehensive and forward-thinking strategies can Europe safeguard against future energy crises and maintain the momentum toward a sustainable energy transition.

The key takeaway for the UK is that the pressure is on to develop and maintain a robust energy infrastructure to prevent these issues occurring on home soil.