Blackouts in Spain: Why the Energy Transition Isn’t to Blame – and What Europe Must Do Now

A power outage on the Iberian Peninsula in April continues to spark debate. But the root cause wasn’t the energy transition – it was a lack of grid resilience. Europe needs joint solutions to enable a sustainable transformation.

By Jan Nintemann and Jochen Siegle

Southern Europe blackout – but renewables not at fault. On 28 April 2025, a large-scale power outage hit the Iberian Peninsula. Within seconds, electricity supply failed across much of Spain and Portugal. Trains came to a halt, traffic lights went dark, and public life ground to a standstill.

Critics of the #EnergyTransition were quick to blame the growing share of wind and solar energy. However, a recently completed investigation by the Spanish government shows otherwise: the root cause lay in a series of technical and organisational planning failures on the part of grid operators and energy suppliers – not in renewables.

Planning failures, not wind power – what really happened

According to Environment Minister Sara Aagesen, the blackout was triggered by an overvoltage in the electricity grid, which set off a cascade of automatic safety shutdowns. Particularly critical was the fact that several power plants shut down as a precaution due to insufficient voltage regulation capacity.

A software error in the grid control system further exacerbated the situation. The investigation makes one thing clear: neither solar nor wind farms were responsible for the failure.

What Europe must learn from the incident

Even though renewables weren’t to blame, the incident highlights a central issue: the transition to sustainable energy systems demands robust grids, intelligent control mechanisms, and new storage technologies.

Unlike conventional turbines, wind and solar installations cannot compensate for short-term voltage fluctuations. Possible remedies include capacitors, frequency converters, or large-scale battery storage – technologies which are still far from being deployed at scale.

Transform IT Europe: The marketplace for green infrastructure

This context underscores the urgent need for coordinated European action. A successful energy transition requires cross-border collaboration between policymakers, industry, and technology providers

This is exactly where the new trade fair and conference platform TransformIT Europe, based in Brussels, wants to step in – as a central European hub and marketplace for green digitalisation, grid intelligence, and resilient energy systems.

Europe faces a historic challenge – and only through joint efforts can the path to a sustainable Green Business future be secured.

Conclusion: No room for misplaced blame – but for investment

The blackouts in Spain and Portugal must not be used as an argument against the energy transition. Rather, they should serve as a wake-up call for investment in grid security and smart grid technologies.

Only with a networked European strategy – and platforms like TransformIT Europe – can the energy transition be made secure, stable, and future-proof.