On May 28, 2025, the Spanish government firmly denied allegations that an "experiment" on its national power grid triggered the massive blackout that paralyzed the Iberian Peninsula a month earlier.
During a parliamentary session, Ecological Transition Minister Sara Aagesen dismissed reports suggesting the government conducted any experimental activities prior to the outage on April 28, which disrupted telecommunications, halted transportation, and left cities across Spain and Portugal in darkness.
The controversy arose after The Telegraph, a British daily, published claims based on anonymous sources in Brussels, alleging that Spanish authorities were testing the limits of renewable energy integration in preparation for an accelerated phase-out of nuclear reactors by 2027. The newspaper suggested the government had hastily pushed renewable reliance without sufficiently investing in advanced smart grid infrastructure.
Minister Aagesen stated, "It is false, totally false, that the government carried out any sort of experiment on the grid prior to the outage." She also emphasized that assigning blame prematurely is irresponsible as investigations into the blackout’s root cause continue.
Adding to the rebuttal, Beatriz Corredor, head of Spain's electricity operator Red Eléctrica de España (REE), told La Vanguardia that no excess renewable energy, short circuits, overloads, or cyberattacks were detected during the incident. Instead, preliminary analysis points to conventional energy producers—such as gas, nuclear, and hydroelectric facilities—for failing to properly regulate voltage at the time of the failure. Corredor did not confirm if this was the direct cause of the blackout.
As investigations continue, authorities maintain the focus on establishing facts while rejecting theories attributing the blackout to experimental grid manipulation or renewable energy integration issues.
