[Source/Observation Times Network Ruan Jiaqi]

Last week, the Iberian Peninsula and surrounding areas of Europe experienced the most severe large-scale power outage in nearly 20 years. Spain, Portugal, and parts of southern France were plunged into darkness, with Andorra and Belgium also affected, impacting approximately 60 million people's lives directly. This blackout has sparked reflection on the resilience of Europe's power grid and energy policies.

On May 8th, the Hong Kong media outlet South China Morning Post cited analysts as saying that this large-scale blackout could become a "turning point" for European energy policy. They pointed out that governments are beginning to realize the urgent need to upgrade the power grid given the increasingly important role of renewable energy in the electricity supply mix.

The aforementioned analysts further noted that this "major blackout" in Europe may become a significant opportunity for Chinese enterprises to enter the European energy infrastructure market. As a leading supplier of energy storage and power grid construction technology globally, China's achievements in related technological research and application play a key role in preventing large-scale blackouts and ensuring stable grid operation.

April 28th, Madrid, Spain: Due to the large-scale blackout affecting the entire Iberian Peninsula and southern France, many travelers prepared to spend the night at Atocha Station. Visual China

At noon on April 28th local time, large-scale power outages occurred successively in Spain and Portugal, causing daily activities to suddenly stop: trains and subways stopped running, traffic lights went out, stores closed, some flights were canceled or delayed, medical systems could not operate normally, and some hospitals had to urgently use backup generators to treat critically ill patients. Spain once declared a "state of emergency."

It has been almost two weeks since the blackout incident, but Spain, Portugal, and other relevant parties have yet to release the results of the accident investigation. The EU has ruled out the possibility of cyberattacks. According to an initial report from Spain's power grid operator REE, this large-scale blackout may have been caused by a sudden and significant drop in power supply.

This report stated that on the day of the incident, Spain's power grid lost 15 gigawatts of generating capacity in just five seconds, equivalent to 60% of the country's total electricity demand at the time. The "precipitous" drop in power supply exceeded the design range of Europe's power grid, triggering a trip and disconnection of the cross-border transmission lines between Spain and France, causing the Iberian Peninsula's power system to lose synchronization with the European main grid. Subsequently, severe supply-demand imbalances occurred within the Spanish and Portuguese grids, leading to voltage collapse and resulting in a complete blackout.

April 28th, Spain's electricity demand monitoring showed a sudden drop in power supply. Spain's power company website

The grids of Spain and Portugal are highly integrated, connected to France through a few cross-border interconnection lines, and then linked to other regions of Europe. Financial Times reported that this large-scale blackout once again exposed the vulnerability of Europe's power grid.

Reuters also mentioned that Spain and Portugal have long claimed to be "energy islands," despite Spain's efforts to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, its grid and energy storage capacity have lagged far behind the rapid development of renewable energy.

Maria López, an analyst at the International Energy Agency (IEA), analyzed that "this event is a 'stress test' of Europe's transition to a zero-carbon power grid, exposing the fatal consequences of the lack of flexible scheduling and energy storage."

Although the exact cause of this blackout has not yet been determined, experts and analysts emphasized that in an era where power supply increasingly relies on new energy sources, energy storage is crucial for helping the grid cope with sudden fluctuations in power supply.

According to comprehensive reports from European media, Spain's energy storage installed capacity accounts for only about 2.65% of the total installed capacity, making it difficult to buffer fluctuations in renewable energy. After the blackout accident, although hydroelectric energy storage helped restore power supply, the lag in battery energy storage construction greatly reduced the effectiveness of emergency response measures.

It is worth noting that due to the lack of matching energy storage equipment support for renewable energy, including Germany, France, Spain, and other European countries, negative electricity prices have occurred multiple times in recent years, where power producers need to pay users to consume excess electricity.

To address this situation, the construction of new energy storage facilities is often considered the most effective solution. Ismael Morales, climate policy manager at the Spanish think tank "Foundation for Renewable Energy," pointed out that given the rapid development of Spain's renewable energy industry and the country's plan to close all nuclear power plants by 2035, the demand for expanding battery energy storage capacity in Spain is particularly urgent.

He told the Hong Kong media that Spain's current energy storage capacity is 10 gigawatts, most of which comes from hydropower storage stations. The country has been progressing slowly in investing in new technologies such as battery energy storage solutions to enhance storage capacity.

"We need to improve our grid with various Chinese technologies," Morales further stated, "What we really need from Chinese companies right now is energy storage technology. Spain urgently needs to enhance its own energy storage capabilities."

He added, "We don't know the exact cause of the blackout. But what we do know is that for the future, we need to learn lessons."

In March this year, the ninth edition of the annual "European Energy Storage Market Monitoring Report" (EMMES) released by the European Energy Storage Association (EASE) and research consultancy LCP Delta showed that the newly added energy storage system installation capacity in Europe in 2024 would reach 11.9 GW, with cumulative installations reaching 89 GW.

European energy storage installation capacity forecast. EASE website

Although this report emphasized that 2024 was a "record-breaking" year for energy storage deployment in Europe. The Hong Kong media pointed out that compared to this, China's investment in energy storage technology is much larger.

According to incomplete statistics from the global energy storage database of the China Energy Storage Industry Technology Alliance (CNESA DataLink), by the end of 2024, China's cumulative installed power storage capacity first exceeded 100 gigawatts, reaching 137.9 GW, a year-on-year increase of 59.8%. Among them, the scale of new energy storage installations (78.3 GW) first exceeded pumped hydro storage (58.5 GW). Lithium-ion battery energy storage became the largest market share technology in energy storage, with a cumulative installed capacity exceeding 55.2%.

So-called new energy storage refers to various forms of energy storage technology other than pumped hydro storage, which is an important technology and basic equipment for building a new power system and an important support for achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals.

In simple terms, this type of energy storage technology is like a "power bank," which can store surplus electricity from wind and photovoltaic renewable energy sources and discharge during peak load periods, effectively solving the problem of unstable renewable energy generation.

CNESA

South China Morning Post noticed that in February this year, eight departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China issued the "Action Plan for High-Quality Development of New Energy Storage Manufacturing Industry," promoting industrial development tailored to regional conditions and diversified growth, reducing low-level repetitive construction, improving resource allocation and utilization efficiency, and unleashing the market potential of the new energy storage industry.

The report thus pointed out that as part of the power market reform, China is exploring the integration of new energy storage solutions into a broader grid to be used in scenarios such as peak load management and frequency regulation.

Meanwhile, China's dominant position in battery energy storage and grid construction solutions has also allowed China's renewable energy giants to find another potential growth area in the European market.

According to incomplete statistics from the industry database of CESA Energy Storage Application Branch, in 2024, Chinese energy storage companies have secured more than 146 orders overseas, with a total scale exceeding 165.47 GWh. Among them, the largest order was for energy storage batteries, reaching 81.11 GWh, followed by energy storage system (including DC-side systems) orders, with over 97 orders and a scale of 72.98 GWh.

This year, many Chinese companies have made gains in the European market: companies such as Lishen (Qingdao), NanDu Power Source, Huawei, and Canadian Solar signed more than 12 GWh of energy storage orders in markets such as Greece, Romania, and the UK.

On May 7th, during the 2025 European Smart Energy Expo in Munich, ChuNeng New Energy and Hanfu Energy, two energy storage companies, respectively signed cooperation agreements with partners in the UK and Bulgaria, involving orders exceeding 2.5 GWh.

"The products of (Chinese brands) are very competitive—in some fields, they are the best on the market," said electrical expert Milan Prodanovic.

Prodanovic is the head of the Electrical Systems Department at IMDEA Energy Institute, an institution established by the Madrid government. He added, "It is certain that Chinese companies will occupy a place in many of the solutions launched in Spain."

This article is an exclusive piece from Observer Network and cannot be reprinted without permission.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7502425218103788059/

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