The government is set to unveil a range of measures today in response to the electrical grid blackout that occurred on April 28 in Portugal and Spain. These measures are expected to include a national storage plan and modifications to the electrical grid control systems.
The measures will be presented in the morning at a session at the Ministry of the Environment by Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho, accompanied by Secretary of State for Energy, Jean Barroca.
At the end of June, the Minister of Environment and Energy indicated the intention to present measures following the April blackout, even though the final report on the event’s causes was not yet available.
On that occasion, Maria da Graça Carvalho stated that the government aims to increase electricity storage capacity. She mentioned the development of a “national storage plan,” which could include chemical storage via batteries or hydro storage through dam capacity.
Another measure to be introduced involves altering the electrical grid control systems through increased informatization and data utilization, establishing “a unique data collection system.”
Earlier this week, conclusions from the July 15 meeting of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) expert group, investigating the network collapse, were revealed. They cited a probable cause as cascading voltage increases observed in southern Spain at the final incident stage, followed by sudden production shutdowns, particularly at renewable facilities, leading to the Iberian Peninsula’s electrical separation from the continental system, loss of synchronism, and frequency and voltage collapse.
This type of disturbance was unprecedented as a cause of blackout anywhere on the European grid.
If this conclusion is confirmed, it will require “a thorough analysis and investigation by all ENTSO-E electrical system experts” and adopting new measures to enhance resilience, according to the report.
Among the measures to be implemented, experts emphasize the need to “improve voltage control management procedures and capabilities of all active stakeholders in the electrical system” to prevent serious voltage-related incidents in the future.
Another point of action involves assessing if existing defense plans can protect the European electrical system against “this new type of phenomenon.”
During the incident, automatic response plans were activated in Portugal and Spain, as mandated by European regulations, but they failed to prevent the network collapse.
The report highlights the system’s recovery’s speed and effectiveness, with REN completing recovery by 00:22 on April 29 and Red Eléctrica around 04:00.
Although the deadline for producing the factual report on the incident is October 28, 2025, six months post-incident, the expert panel aims to deliver it earlier.
This will be followed by a final report with recommendations for the European Commission and Member States, expected to be delivered two to three months afterward.
