The use of gas for network services doubled in May compared to the previous year, now accounting for 57% of electricity costs, compared to 14% in 2024, according to data provided by Ember.
The organization added that renewable energy losses have tripled since the blackout in Spain and Portugal, escalating from 1.8% over the past two years to 7.2% between May and July.
“Spain risks reverting to a costly reliance on gas amid post-blackout concerns,” warned Chris Rosslowe, a senior energy analyst at Ember, in a report.
Rosslowe emphasized the need for investment in batteries and interconnections, which will help Spain “finally break free” from its dependency on fossil fuels.
Nevertheless, the analyst acknowledged that Spain in recent years “has broken the damaging link between electricity prices and fossil fuel volatility, something that its European neighbors are eager to achieve.”
The Ember study indicates that the decline in fossil fuel influence in Spain has been “significantly faster” than in other gas-dependent countries like Germany and Italy.
The growth of wind and solar energy in Spain has reduced the impact of gas and coal on electricity prices by 75% since 2019, making the Spanish electricity market one of the cheapest in Europe, the group noted.
In European markets, the most expensive generation in operation— typically gas or coal—sets the wholesale electricity price hourly.
As the share of cheaper renewables increases, fossil fuels less frequently determine the price.
The analysis reveals that, in the first half of 2025, fossil fuel generation influenced electricity prices in Spain for only 19% of the hours, the lowest among the five European countries with the largest gas fleets.
Consequently, the wholesale electricity price in Spain was 32% lower than the European Union average.
The blackout on April 28, categorized by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity as “exceptional and severe,” left Portugal and Spain largely without electricity for over 10 hours.
Airport closures, transport congestion, and fuel shortages were among the immediate effects.
So far, a cascading tension increase, an unprecedented technical phenomenon in Europe, has been cited as the cause of the incident.
