A recent article published in The Telegraph alleges that a Spanish government “experiment” with renewable energies triggered the massive electricity outage that left the Iberian Peninsula in darkness on April 28. However, experts and officials claim that such an experiment is highly unlikely.
The Telegraph’s World Economy Editor, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, wrote that according to sources in Brussels, Spain was probing how far it could push reliance on renewables as part of its plan to phase out nuclear reactors. The article sparked widespread media attention, with many outlets amplifying the claim and social media users sharing the story.
However, a closer examination reveals that the article was published as an opinion editorial rather than a news article, and Evans-Pritchard is a regular columnist for The Telegraph. He used the April 28 outage to criticize Spain’s socialist government’s energy policies, describing them as “reckless”.
Experts say that the theory behind a government-led experiment on the grid is not logical. Manuel Alcázar-Ortega, an electrical engineer at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, stated that computer simulations are used to analyze the grid, and it would be highly unlikely for such an experiment to occur in real life.
Renewable energy is often cited as a possible cause of the outage, but experts argue that it’s not the problem. Alcázar-Ortega explained that while renewable energy sources like wind and solar are “inertia-less”, making the grid more unstable, this can be mitigated with storage systems or other types of inverters.
The Spanish government has denied the claims, calling them an example of “fake news”. The country’s deputy prime minister, María Jesús Montero, attributed the article to “corporate interests” trying to distort public opinion.
Source: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/05/29/portugals-far-right-chega-party-becomes-main-opposition-in-parliament