Red Eléctrica is on alert after the blackout. The company in charge of electrical management in Spain is still looking for the cause that caused the greatest energy shock in the history of our country.
Although both the government and the manager seem to have indications of what happened – and they warn that “it is soon to know all the details” – the truth is that from Moncloa and from Red Electric it works day and night to prevent this situation from repeating again.
One of the main measures taken by the manager has been the incorporation of technologies called synchronous to the energy mix in recent days. These technologies include the combined cycle (gas driven) and nuclear energy. These are sources in which the rotor revolves at a constant speed, known as synchronous speed, unlike asynchronous generators, where the rotor speed does not coincide with the synchronous speed of the magnetic field of the stator.
Thus, in case of a blackout or an incidence such as last Monday, synchronous technologies are much more effective and useful to reactivate a fallen electrical system. Precisely, these centrals operated almost at least when the blackout occurred.
At the time the energy system collapsed, renewable energies led the generation. The photovoltaic parks contributed up to 60 % of the total electricity, while the wind was the second most used source, with 12 %.
during the hours after the blackout, the debate on the role of renewables in the energy mix was opened, as some sectors already pointed out. Both the Government and Red Eléctrica have insisted on pointing out that renewable energies were not responsible for the electric chaos lived in Spain.
On the opposite side, synchronous energies had a marginal role at the time of the blackout. The combined cycle, traditionally one of the pillars of the national energy mix, barely represented 3.37 % of the generation, while the nuclear touched 11 %. After the incident, the system depended on these plants – fundamental to provide electricity immediately – but found a little contribution and interconnections with Portugal and France limited, in order to avoid major consequences. The result was that the national system was out of service for about 37 minutes.
-With the lesson learned, Red Eléctrica has granted greater prominence to the combined cycle and nuclear energy. For example, at certain times of the day, the combined cycle came to represent up to 45 % of the generation. However, the renewables also maintained an outstanding presence and led production in several time slots.
This Wednesday, the situation was similar again: combined cycles contributed 13 % of the total, while nuclear ranged around 4 %.
On alert for holidays
Sources of the sector point out that this tonic will be repeated in the next few days. Combined cycles and nuclear energy “will have a representative weight” because, this weekend, there will be a festive bridge in Spain, which will cause a sharp fall in demand.
With an excess of planned production, the electricity sector recognizes its “restlessness” in the face of a situation that could “Look like last Monday.” “Let’s see how the electricity and wholesale market behave with the cheapest hours in history. It will be a true fire test,” they warn.
And is that the large amount of electricity that will be generated these days contrasts with a very low demand. Millions of Spaniards will not go to their jobs, the offices will be closed and the same will happen in many factories. In addition, in homes it will be consumed less, since people will spend more time away from home.
All this is reflected in the price of electricity. The megavatio hour marked a Historical negative price And, during the day, it came to sink to the ten negative euros. That is, the generators had to pay to pour electricity into the system.
This is mainly due to the fact that there is a huge amount of electricity planned for their generation, and the producers are obliged to sell it. Everything indicates that the wholesale price will remain very low in the next few days, which shows the serious structural problem that the Spanish and European electrical system drags.
