Five months later we are still discovering things about the blackout in Spain. And every time it's worse news for Europe

A recent investigation into the major power outage that struck southern Spain in April reveals significant shortcomings in the country's grid management, raising serious concerns for the stability of Europe's interconnected energy network. The preliminary findings highlight potential vulnerabilities in the system's response to the increasing reliance on renewable energy sources, particularly its capacity to manage fluctuations from solar and wind generation. This incident serves as a critical wake-up call for the EU's digital sovereignty goals. The Instituto de Investigación Tecnológica (IIT) report, commissioned by major Spanish energy companies, identifies insufficient synchronous generation programming as a core issue contributing to the blackout. It also critiques operational procedures by Red Eléctrica de España (REE). The investigation introduces the concept of a "collapse due to overvoltage," triggered by the disconnection of renewable energy sources operating with a constant power factor, where disconnections exceeded a critical safety margin of 1,600 MW on the 220 kV network. This unprecedented cascade failure across the Iberian Peninsula underscores the fragility of Europe's power infrastructure in the face of the energy transition. The incident has implications for all member states relying on interconnected grids. The event highlights the need to reassess the operational practices of the EU's power grid, and to develop more robust protocols to safeguard against similar occurrences, and secure digital sovereignty. Further investigation is undoubtedly underway to fully understand the cascade effect and to implement the necessary changes. The incident may prompt stricter regulatory oversight, technological upgrades and revisions to existing emergency procedures, particularly regarding how variable renewable energy sources are integrated into national grid systems across Europe.