Spain’s grid operator, Redeia, is filing an appeal against a government report. The report alleges that Redeia’s erroneous calculations played a key role in last summer’s blackout. This week, the company released its own detailed analysis, and that analysis strongly contradicts these findings. They claim that they had effective voltage control practices before this incident happened.
On June 18, Redeia’s new chief operations officer, Concha Sanchez, conducted a news conference. She assured the press that everything was working as it should because noon on the day of the blackout. She noted that an incredibly important combined-cycle plant went down without warning in the first minutes of the chaos. This short duration temporarily restored some financial stability to the system. Further, Sanchez pointed to some sudden, unforeseen demand from transit operators that was part of the confluence of factors leading to the fiasco.
“Had conventional power plants done their job in controlling the voltage, there would have been no blackout.” – Concha Sanchez
Redeia’s Response and Confidence in Calculations
In the wake of the blackout, Redeia published a comprehensive report of its own outlining the occurrences that led to the failure. The company’s leadership, including chair Beatriz Corredor and CEO Roberto Garcia Merino, expressed their confidence in the calculations and protocols followed by their teams. They trust that Redeia strived to comply with the procedural requirements. They don’t anticipate any negative impacts or lawsuits against the nonprofit.
Corredor and Garcia Merino stressed that their analysis shows no blame toward Redeia for lack of voltage control capabilities. The leadership maintains that their planning was robust and that they acted diligently throughout the incident.
Criticism from Industry Lobby
Counter to Redeia’s claims, industry lobby Aelec has opposed the operator’s statements on its voltage control abilities. As a result, Aelec argues, Redeia did not sufficiently meet the system’s demands during the blackout in a safe manner. This criticism raises a new layer of complexity with respect to the continuing debate over who is accountable for the incident.
“The operator failed to safely cover all the system’s needs.” – Aelec
Redeia and state officials are currently locked in negotiations. Depending on the outcome of this dispute, Spain’s operational protocols and accountability measures will surely serve as a precedent for the nation’s rapidly increasing energy sector.