The blackout on April 28 has caused deep concern among those of us working in the electricity sector. As a Spaniard with nearly thirty years of experience in large-scale electricity transmission projects across multiple countries and contexts, I have followed the news with close attention and growing worry.
Although several months have passed since that event, its consequences remain present and continue to shape the global debate on how to integrate renewable energy as a central pillar of the national energy mix. The question is therefore clear: does an electricity mix dominated by renewable sources represent a risk or an opportunity?
Let’s start with a positive note: as a country, we have made significant progress on the path to clean energy. This position gives us a clear advantage: the chance to be pioneers and to have the potential to become a genuine powerhouse in renewable generation. This leadership can not only multiply environmental and economic benefits but also position Spain as a key player in the global energy transformation. Moreover, we have world-leading companies in the sector, such as Redeia, Iberdrola, and Gamesa, as well as many others that have achieved remarkable advances in recent years.
Behind this leadership lies a long history of effort, debate, and key decisions on how to modernize and strengthen our electricity grid. In the 1980s, when I was a teenager in a small town in Tarragona, I was fascinated by the news about an electricity interconnection between Spain and France, which would cross the heart of the Catalan Pyrenees. For decades there were protests, discussions, and opposition to an overhead high-voltage line. The European Union, with Mario Monti as mediator, helped unblock the project in 2008. I fondly remember the day of its inauguration, when the former Italian Prime Minister humbly walked along the route, years after leaving office.
Since 2015, the INELFE link (France-Spain Electricity Interconnection), featuring pioneering underground direct current cable technology, has represented half of all the Iberian Peninsula’s electricity interconnections. Just minutes after the blackout and the disconnection from the French grid, these cables played a crucial role in restoring power in northern Catalonia and, gradually, across the Spanish network. North Africa also played an important role: Morocco mobilized, through the Strait’s submarine cables, up to 38% of its generation capacity to help Spain recover from the blackout, contributing to the restoration of the Andalusian grid from the south.
However, this episode exposed the structural vulnerabilities of the Spanish electricity system, reaffirming its status as an “energy island.” The Iberian Peninsula’s interconnection capacity does not reach 4 GW, equivalent to the output of four nuclear power plants, well below the European target of 15 GW. By comparison, Italy has 11 GW of interconnection capacity with neighboring countries and has just announced a new link with Tunisia. Limited interconnection capacity prevents the country from fully exploiting its renewable potential: when production is high, surplus energy cannot be exported, and when it falls, options for importing power are scarce.
The planned connection via the Bay of Biscay with France, scheduled for 2028, will reduce this deficit with an additional 2 GW of capacity, but still far from the target. Although the peninsula has no western neighbors, current technology would allow interconnections with Algeria, Italy, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, among others.
Spain is well positioned to play a key role in the future of energy: it could not only strengthen its grid against blackout risks but also become a central hub connecting Western Europe and North Africa. For these alliances to materialize, decisive political momentum will be required, similar to that which once enabled the development of major international gas pipelines. Unlike gas, which has benefited from decades of investment and strategic planning, electricity interconnections have progressed slowly, hindered by insufficient political will both in Spain and among our neighbors.
Spain cannot afford to fall behind. The country has made an exemplary commitment to renewable generation, but it will not complete the energy transition without additional international transmission lines. The energy future is already underway, and the time to act, connect, and lead is now.