Spain and Portugal push for stronger EU power links
After a historic blackout left 50 million people without electricity, Iberian leaders demand urgent grid interconnections with the rest of Europe.
Image credit: LuisPinaPhotography / Shutterstock_604600478
Spain / Portugal: Spain and Portugal are calling for urgent new electricity interconnections with the rest of Europe after a massive blackout in April exposed the fragility of the Iberian grid.
The outage, the first of its kind to hit both countries, plunged more than 50 million people into hours of disruption. Investigations suggest that overvoltage events and failures in safeguards allowed a local issue to escalate into a binational blackout. For many citizens, it was a stark reminder of how deeply daily life depends on reliable electricity.
Currently, the Iberian Peninsula remains largely cut off from Europe’s dense continental grid. Existing cross-border capacity stands at just 2.8 % of installed generation – far below the EU’s minimum target of 15 % by 2030. Even with the Bay of Biscay subsea link under construction, which will raise capacity to 5,000 MW by 2028, the region will remain far short of Brussels’ benchmark.
At the heart of the effort is a new “power highway” linking Gatika in northern Spain to Cubnezais near Bordeaux, running entirely underground and beneath the Bay of Biscay. But officials admit a single project is not enough. “Half a dozen more interconnections like this are needed just to reach parity with other major economies,” said Juan Prieto, project director.
The blackout also fuelled political tensions. France has been slow to expand links, reluctant to become an “electricity transit country” and wary of exposing its nuclear fleet to cheaper Iberian wind and solar. In response, Madrid and Lisbon have pressed Paris and Brussels for binding commitments to strengthen cross-border flows.
Analysts warn that without stronger interconnections, Europe risks further instability. “Greater regional integration acts as a buffer against shocks,” said Georg Zachmann of Bruegel.
The European Investment Bank has pledged $1.8 B (€1.6 B) for the Biscay project, and EU regulators are reviewing lessons from the blackout. For Spain and Portugal, however, the message is clear: without faster action, the peninsula will remain an “energy island” at the edge of Europe.
Source: El País
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