From pv magazine Spain
Spanish media outlet elDiario.es has reported that Iberdrola's 500 MW Núñez de Balboa solar plant is the solar plant blamed earlier this week by Spanish grid operator REE for Spain's April 28 power outage.
The media outlet cited sources familiar with the confidential reports from the government's committee of experts and REE itself, which are requesting an investigation into the “malfunction” of this facility. During its press conference, REE did not reveal the name of the facility due to “confidentiality” reasons and said it allegedly caused a “forced frequency oscillation.”
A few hours after the press conference of REE, Iberdrola, owner of two photovoltaic plants in the area – Francisco Pizarro and Núñez de Balboa – released a statement expressing its “astonishment.” It noted that the system operator is confusing “the consequences of the blackout with its causes.” It also blamed “the negligent and reckless way of operating” of the grid operators, which “has not fulfilled its primary function of guaranteeing the continuity and security of supply, nor of the proper coordination of the production system and the transmission grid.”
Iberdrola Spain said it agreed with the analysis of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, which notes that the system displayed insufficient voltage control capacity and added that on April 27, the day before the blackout, REE scheduled the operation of 10 synchronous plants with the capacity to regulate voltage on April 28. “The final number of synchronous plants connected was the lowest since the beginning of the year,” said the company.
Iberdrola also explained that at the time of the incident, “all the plants in its generating fleet that had received the relevant instructions from Red Eléctrica were connected,” naming it “responsible for the management of this incident” and accusing it of “reckless and negligent” management. It added that “on that day, all the plants complied with current regulations.”
Iberdrola added that REE, “as the sole and exclusive operator, has all the necessary tools to alter and manage the energy mix, as it has been doing since the blackout, the costs of which are already being borne by Spanish consumers due to the increased introduction of gas into the system, with the resulting increase in emissions.”
Meanwhile, the employers' association Aelec – which includes Endesa, Iberdrola, and EDP Spain – reiterated the same argument in another statement released Wednesday afternoon.
“The report of the government committee analyzing the electricity crisis of April 28 has confirmed that insufficient resources were available to control voltage in the electricity system,” it said in a statement. “The responsibility for providing these resources falls on the system operator, which, through the process of technical restrictions, must guarantee the availability of an adequate number of synchronous power plants each day, taking into account the impact that its decisions and maneuvers have on voltage levels.”
The employers' association concluded that “claiming that everything was done correctly and that a partial disconnection of generation alone justifies a widespread blackout is damaging to the reputation of the Spanish electricity sector and creates unnecessary uncertainty for the industry as a whole.”
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.