In the context of the FES Iberia 2025 event, organised by Future Energy Summit, Spain’s autonomous communities publicly analysed and evaluated the new package of measures announced by the national Government, designed to reinforce the supervision of the national electrical system.
This initiative comes as a direct response to the crisis experienced on 28 April, which led to significant power outages across various regions, and focuses on several key points:
Enhanced technical supervision:
The National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) will take on a strengthened supervisory role, assessing operators’ compliance with voltage controls every three months. Additionally, it will implement an extraordinary inspection plan every three years, focusing on critical capabilities, particularly autonomous installations and distribution networks.
Moreover, Red Eléctrica will develop technical proposals to address power fluctuations and coordinate comprehensive plans between transmission and distribution grids. These plans must be finalised within three to 15 months, with implementation expected within a further six months.
Electrification promotion:
The electrical infrastructure will be enhanced to accommodate industrial requirements, with a review of network planning every three years, and streamlined procedures for connecting to electricity grids. Additionally, fiscal and administrative benefits for installing electric vehicle charging points and electric climate-control systems in community buildings will be expanded.
Facilitation of renewable projects:
Administrative procedures for renewable energy projects, particularly repowering existing installations, will be simplified, with authorisation timelines reduced by half, thereby facilitating the expansion of these key technologies.
Energy storage and flexibility:
Administrative processing times for energy storage—both hybrid and independent systems—will also be halved. Furthermore, the decree introduces the role of independent aggregators, entities that will manage multiple demand and storage sources to facilitate their participation in electricity markets, thus contributing to enhanced system resilience.
During the panel titled “Highlighted discussion: Solar and wind, vectors of transformation for Spanish regions”, energy directors from Andalucía, Galicia, Canarias, Comunitat Valenciana and Murcia examined in detail the measures recently approved by the national Government.
Federico Miralles Pérez, Director-General of Industry, Energy and Mines of Murcia, stated at FES Iberia that while these measures are necessary, they must be implemented swiftly.
“In Murcia, we face significant obstacles due to the current electricity infrastructure. The existing networks do not permit decarbonisation at the necessary pace, and we hope this decree quickly promotes energy storage solutions,” Miralles remarked.
At the same time, the Valencian Community welcomed the Government’s proposals to simplify administrative procedures. Manuel Argüelles Linares, Director-General of Energy and Mines for Valencia, commented: “We urgently need to reduce procedures and streamline administrative processes. This decree can significantly accelerate timelines, provided that the excessive bureaucratic hurdles currently hindering investments in renewables and storage are eliminated.”
From Galicia, Pablo Fernández Vila, Director-General of Energy Planning and Mines, strongly emphasised the urgent need for updated electrical planning.
“Administrative simplification is welcome, but Galicia urgently needs clear and updated electricity planning to fully harness our offshore wind potential. This decree must be complemented by an integrated and swift strategy from the central Government,” Fernández stressed.
Manuel Larrasa Rodríguez, Secretary-General of Energy and Mines of Andalucía, highlighted that Andalucía leads in installed renewable power but warned against hasty decision-making.
“It is crucial to maintain an energy balance with stable technologies such as nuclear until renewables become fully manageable. Germany made mistakes by prematurely shutting down nuclear plants. Spain must learn from this experience and urgently upgrade electricity infrastructures to avoid a recurrence of episodes like the one experienced in April,” Larrasa explained.
Canarias presented a particularly critical perspective due to its specific conditions of isolation and vulnerability in its electrical networks.
Alberto Hernández Suárez, Director-General of Energy for the Canary Islands Government, pointed out during the panel that the region especially needs the energy storage solutions proposed by the decree, and urged for the accelerated deployment of offshore wind.
“In the Canary Islands, we urgently require measures to strengthen the resilience of our energy supply. We have clear territorial limitations, thus offshore wind must be implemented as soon as possible to reinforce our island electricity system,” Hernández underlined.
Beyond enhanced supervision, the decree introduces other significant measures, such as electrification of the economy, facilitating grid access and connections for electro-intensive industries, and simplifying administrative procedures for renewable energy projects.
An 80% exemption in electricity tariffs for electro-intensive industries will be reinstated retroactively from 23 January, directly supporting industrial activities.
Moreover, the Government encourages the integration of new flexibility tools, such as hybrid storage and independent aggregators, which will improve the management of energy demand and optimise resources, aiming to prevent critical episodes similar to last April’s crisis.
Ultimately, while the autonomous communities broadly acknowledged the Government’s efforts to improve the resilience and sustainability of the electrical system, they collectively urged the central Executive to expedite general energy planning—a critical condition for the effective implementation of the new decree.
Summarising this perspective during the panel, Manuel Argüelles Linares from the Valencian Community concluded: “The central administration cannot become a bottleneck—it must be a swift and effective facilitator of the announced measures.”
The Future Energy Summit Iberia 2025 panel made clear that Spain’s new “blackout prevention” decree is well-received by the country’s regions, yet remains conditional upon rapid Government action to support regional energy investment, particularly in storage, electrical grids, and renewables.
Revisit the discussion via Strategic Energy Corp’s YouTube channel
