The Spanish government is strengthening oversight of electricity operators to prevent blackouts.

BarcelonaIn view of the general blackout on April 28 and after the several reports that have been derived to try to determine what caused the energy freeze, the Spanish government approved this Tuesday a royal decree law with measures to strengthen the electricity system, which includes inspections of operators required to monitor grid voltage, as well as aid for consumers. Third Vice President and Minister of Energy Transition, Sara Aagensen, explained that the objective of these initiatives is to achieve a "more robust and solvent" system with significant benefits, such as more stable and predictable bills for citizens.

The government has also approved €931 million from European funds for investments in the transmission grid aimed at strategic decarbonization projects, which "saves costs for citizens," Aagesen indicated. The regulation strengthens the supervisory functions of the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC), which will have six months to evaluate the voltage control obligations of the electrical system agents required to provide the service, and prepare the corresponding report, which it will update every quarter.

Likewise, the system operator, Red Eléctrica, is also tasked with preparing proposals for regulatory modifications on responses to power fluctuations, and on the rate of voltage variation, the scheduling of technical restrictions, and other technical elements. In addition, it is entrusted with a new operating procedure to coordinate the development plans of the transmission and distribution networks and a proposal for minimum monitoring requirements for incident analysis.

Responsibility for the blackout

Minister Aagesen also assured, after this Monday The big energy companies will point the finger at Red Eléctrica as the "sole party responsible" for the April 28 blackout, in which the responsibilities for the episode "will have to be defined by both the administrative and judicial courts" in the various open proceedings.

The minister also noted that in 49 days, the Spanish government has managed to obtain a report from the investigation committee that has "clearly identified the causes with rigor, analyzing the information from each of the operators." She added that the royal decree law approved this Tuesday provides a package of measures to act and prevent an event of this nature, something "extremely important," she asserted. "Other processes, such as the instructions, both administrative and judicial, will follow their course. These are the ones that will determine responsibilities," she noted, adding that "we will see what comes out of these proceedings."

Furthermore, Aagesen defended the report prepared by the investigative committee and responded to Iberdrola's request to deanonymize her by stating that, at the time, "up to two requests had already been made to the agents to request transparency and that this information could be made public to all citizens."

"The result is an anonymous report. There was only one agent who clearly stated that the information they had sent us, which was 100% their property, could be made public, and that was Red Eléctrica," the minister noted. "Therefore, this report is the result of this anonymization of each of the operators who did not allow us to make this information transparent," she asserted.