Macron: Spain’s Mega-Blackout Was Due to Reliance on Renewables
Emmanuel Macron has blamed Spain’s mega-blackout in April, which left five dead, on the country’s reliance on renewable energy, saying the debate arguing otherwise is a “false one”. The Mail has the story.
The French President said the debate over the cause of the enormous power outage, which plunged Spain into darkness in April leaving five dead and millions without power, was “a false one”.
The disruption, which also impacted Portugal and southwestern France, left areas in total darkness for nearly a day, cutting internet and telephone connection, while hampering transport.
School pupils and workers were sent home for the day but many others were stuck in lifts or stranded on trains in isolated rural areas.
Madrid’s socialist Government did not provide an explanation in the immediate aftermath of the outage, instead calling for patience while it was investigated.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has repeatedly rejected criticism of the country’s heavy reliance on renewable energy sources.
And Spain’s electric grid operator Red Eléctrica de España pinned it on a significant and unprecedented drop in power generation.
Macron has now hit out at Spain’s reliance on renewable energies, claiming “no system can withstand such dependence”.
He said: “The debate about Spain is a false one. Its problem is that it has a 100% renewable energy model that its own domestic grid cannot support.”
The blackout had nothing to do with the interconnections, he said, “but with the fact that no system, at least with current technology, can withstand such dependence on renewable energies”.
“Stability in the energy mix is needed, because otherwise, shocks that are too big occur. But it’s not just about interconnections. Networks are needed,” he added.
Experts have also claimed that the nation’s heavy reliance on solar power leaves it vulnerable to future blackouts because of how renewable generators work compared with traditional power plants.
It has also prompted warnings about Ed Miliband’s race to Net Zero in the UK.
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Blackouts will change the net zero ideology. Nothing like a dose of reality to wake woke people up.
I love the idea of waking the woke!
Preferable would be a wake for the woke.
You’re very optimistic. I can’t see blackouts changing the ideology. But they might undermine support for it sufficiently to force a change of policy. Disappearing votes seem to be the only things that matter to our policians.
Once everyone is unemployed, and there’s no more tax money to fund the f’cking NHS, then they’ll take notice, but it’ll be too late.
Still, looking on the bright side, it’ll stop the boats.
Tee hee hee. Serves them right. If it wasn’t tragic (c.f. the loss of life) it would be very funny indeed. The sad news is that this sort of event is inevitably coming our way in the not-too-distant future, thanks to Milibrain, the know-nothing T. May, Bojo and now the insane Milibrain once again. 2TK is, of course, now responsible, since he is the one who has put Milibrain in charge of destroying our energy generation infrastructire. The buck stops with him. Although I am sure he will never accept responsibility, as he is inherently incapable of accepting responsibility for any of his endless screw-ups.
The paperwork never crossed his desk. He doesn’t recall the debate. Everyone else lied to him…
…And he probably won’t still be in post when it happens, unless it happens before the summer.
As spelt out in the Daily Sceptic by the Anonymous Engineer the day after the Iberian blackout…
https://staging.dailysceptic.org/2025/04/29/spains-blackout-reveals-the-achilles-heel-of-electricity-grids-dominated-by-wind-and-solar/
“….Grid stability isn’t merely a technical detail; it’s the foundation of our civilization.”
Grid-instability is inherent in electricity networks overly-dependent on wind and solar energy. As long as climate falsehood and net-zero folly prevail inside the Department of Energy Insecurity, lessons won’t be learnt.
The devil is in the technical detail. 95% Clean power by 2030 is dirty lies.
Shades of 1984: Clean is dirty. Dirty is clean.
The Ministry of Power Generation (MinPoG) delivers blackouts…
I’m guessing this will be ignored a while longer, facing reality and actually admitting to it will require a leader with integrity and a willingness to admit they were wrong!
Surprised to hear such candor coming from Macron though, but France as a nation is certainly not going the unreliables route, at least while their nuclear power stations stay running!
France is the only Country in Europe which has majority spinning generation and dispatchable generation from its nuclear fleet. Norway has its hydro, but it is limited.
In order to get the Spanish grid back up, power from France was used to set and hold grid frequency – unreliables cannot do this.
Since the big plan is a Europe-wide interconnector, France will be called on more and more to provide power to provide inertia and grid stability in other Countries awash with solar/wind. This will drive up consumer prices in France.
The same has happened Norway which is Europe’s back-up when the wind isn’t blowing, and recently in Sweden where supplying Finland when the wind isn’t blowing.
I wonder if France could charge other countries some kind of insurance premium for providing this sort of restart service?
They suggested that Switzerland might like to contribute to the building of a new nuclear plant that will be supplying their grid.
France has supplied 8.5% of our grid’s electricity over the past year. That’s more than domestic solar, domestic biomass and two thirds of domestic nuclear.
“This will drive up consumer prices in France.”
This is of course possible. But I am happy to report that – since moving here over two years ago – people are a lot more awake versus the English and they protest very effectively against wind farms etc. I am hopeful it may yet drive reductions in domestic electricity prices. People here understand that nuclear continues to be the way forward.
Domestic prices here actually fell by 15% early in 2025, with smaller reductions following.
Macronavirus said this? Telling the truth? Breaking Net Zero fantasy ranks? Mon Dieu! La vache!
He must be on manoeuvres – up to something.
Large rotating machines with inertia are needed for grid stability, nothing else will do. Turbines and turbo-alternators are what you need, electronic power concentrators are not up to the job.
Somebody somewhere admitted nobody has tried to restart a grid with electronic trickery as opposed to inertial generation. A bit risky given their Net Zero idea.
I worry about macron- reduced to telling the truth, that’ll hurt.
THIS is one of the many reasons we emigrated to France. The adults remain in charge of the energy infrastructure.
Rather shocked but nevertheless pleased that Macron is calling out the Renewable Elephant in the Spanish Room.