• Spain's grid operator rebuffs links between renewable energy and the recent massive blackout.
• A major power outage impacted daily life, affecting transport and cutting access to services.
• Political pressure mounts on Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to account for the outage's cause.
• The grid company warns of potential risks from conventional energy plant closures.
• Spain plans a significant investment to upgrade infrastructure for energy stability by 2030.

Spain's electricity operator REE has firmly denied that the country's reliance on renewable energy was the cause of one of Europe’s largest power outages, impacting both Spain and Portugal. This outage occurred on Monday and led to significant disruptions, including halted public transport and a loss of communication services throughout the affected regions. Despite the extensive impact, a definitive cause for the blackout has yet to be established, according to The Jakarta Post, India Times, and TRT Global.

Beatriz Corredor, president of Redeia (REE's parent company), stated that it was "wrong" to associate the high levels of renewable energy with the blackout. She emphasized that renewable energy production is stable and the report warning of risks was merely a formal legal requirement. Corredor asserted, “linking Monday's serious incident to the penetration of renewables is not true, it's not correct,” further arguing that renewable technologies can function similarly to conventional energy systems according to Reuters, Le Monde, and Al Jazeera.

The recent blackout has prompted significant political scrutiny of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, with critics questioning the government's commitment to renewable energy and its infrastructure's reliability. Opposition parties have suggested that the outage's management failures stem from inadequate investments in integrating a robust system for renewable energy sources. It has been proposed that an independent parliamentary investigation should take precedence over the government's inquiry into the incident, as highlighted by Reuters and Le Monde.

Looking ahead, Spain’s government anticipates an investment of approximately 52 billion euros over the next eight years aimed at enhancing grid capabilities to manage the growing demand driven by electric vehicles and data centers. This investment plan is crucial, particularly in light of experts pointing out gaps in the current energy stability protocols in relation to the surge in renewable energy capacity according to Al Jazeera and TRT Global.