Spain's Renewables Face Political And Grid Tests

A lone turbine casts a long shadow over Figueruelas — a small Aragonese town suddenly at the centre of Spain’s energy story. A new €4bn battery plant, backed by China’s CATL and Stellantis, is being built nearby, promising jobs and a vote of confidence in the country’s renewable push. Spain has been transformed in a few years. Wind and solar now supply more than half the nation’s electricity — up from roughly a third in 2017 — and the government aims for renewables to provide 81% of power by 2030. A week before an April blackout, solar alone topped 61.5% of generation on the mainland, showing how rapid the shift has been. But that blackout on 28 April — which plunged homes, trains, offices and schools in Spain and Portugal into darkness for hours — raised uncomfortable questions. The national grid operator and ministers have rejected the idea that renewables were to blame. Officials say an unexplained system event and odd voltage swings were involved; they are still awaiting full technical reports and have ruled out cyber-attack. The outage has sharpened a political row. Critics on the right argue Spain’s green pivot may have been rushed and call for rethink. Nuclear operators and industry groups have seized the moment to argue for keeping plants open: nuclear currently supplies about one fifth of Spain’s electricity, and Madrid plans to close five reactors between 2027 and 2035. Owners of the Almaraz plant have asked for a three-year life extension to 2030, which is under review. Red Eléctrica’s operations chief has acknowledged two practical weak points: the Iberian grid is relatively isolated from the rest of Europe, and storage capacity has not kept pace with renewable build‑out. In plain terms, Spain can generate lots of sun-and-wind power — but it struggles to store and move it when conditions change. The stakes are not only technical. The ruling coalition is battered by scandals and looks politically vulnerable; polls suggest a right‑leaning government could emerge, likely to favour a more balanced mix of energy sources, including gas or extended nuclear life. Meanwhile, Figueruelas is already reaping rewards. The town of around 1,000 will host thousands of construction workers and could see tens of thousands of indirect jobs once the battery factory is running. For many local residents, the green transition is less an ideological debate than fresh work, construction orders and fuller restaurants. Spain’s experiment is both a success story and a stress test. The question now is whether its politics, grids and storage plans can keep up with the ambition. --- Managing your business finances? TaxAce provides smart online accountancy services for UK businesses with flexible monthly plans. Image and reporting: https://www.bbc.co.uk | Read original article