The blackout on 28 April 2025 that left all of Spain and Portugal in the dark was more than just an interruption in electricity supply, it was a stark reminder of the fragility of our energy systems and the urgency of advancing the energy transition across Europe. The incident reverberated beyond national borders, striking at the heart of public trust and once again opening the door to misleading narratives blaming renewable energy.

Let us be clear, renewables were not the cause of the blackout. They are, in fact, a key part of the solution. Evidence from the researchers at Banco de España shows that the substantial integration of solar and wind helped keep electricity prices lower during the energy crisis caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine (Quintana 2024). Without these sources, the financial burden on households and businesses would have been even heavier. This is not activist rhetoric, it is data from one of Spain’s most trusted financial institutions.

The green transition is not about ideological environmentalism. It is about economic resilience, energy security, and climate responsibility. The EU has committed to reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels and achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Spain plays a critical role in this effort. As the EU’s fourth-largest country by population and the second sunniest country in Europe, Spain has the capacity to produce a disproportionate share of the continent’s renewable energy. In the last term of 2024, Spain generated over 60% of its electricity from renewables (Peñasco 2025), compared to around 44% EU-wide, and is aiming for 81% by 2030. These contributions are not marginal; they are essential to Europe meeting its collective targets. Yet progress cannot rely on renewables alone. Electricity systems must remain stable and resilient, even when the sun isn’t shining or the wind doesn’t blow. That requires investment in firm capacity, grids, demand response, storage, and flexible back-up systems. All planning models, from national energy and climate plans (NECPs) to EU-level transition scenarios, agree that different technologies must complement, not compete. The blackout revealed a vulnerability not in renewables themselves, but in the grid’s cap (Gorenstein Dedecca et al. 2025).

Understanding the causes of this widespread outage must be a priority. But what we must avoid is a cycle of institutional finger-pointing. Governments, transmission system operators, and distributors must speak with clarity and honesty. Without transparency on small matters, how can citizens trust their leaders on the big ones? Public trust is foundational. In recent research with Emiliano Grossman, my co-author and I show that support for climate policies is lower in high-income countries than in lower-income ones (Peñasco and Grossman 2025). This is an alarming pattern for the EU’s most industrialised nations (Figure 1).

Figure 1 Support for environmental and climate change mitigation policies across countries and country income level

Note: Factor 1 represents policy support for mainly citizens’ restrictions while factor 2 summarises policy support for investments in renewable energy infrastructure.
Source: Peñasco and Grossman (2025).

Part of the trust deficit lies in blurred institutional accountability. Spain’s Red Eléctrica, like many grid operators in Europe, is not just another private company. It has state ownership, a public mission, and a strategic role. Under any reasonable definition, it is a public institution (Peters 2018). But ultimate responsibility rests with elected governments. If we expect citizens to support massive transformations in how energy is produced and used, the state must lead with example, with openness, coherence, competence and with sharing accurate information.

And this brings us to a crucial question: are we investing where it matters most? Spain’s success in rolling out renewables, now among the highest in Europe, is not enough. Connecting, storing, and managing that energy is just as important. The blackout underscored the urgent need to modernise Europe’s power grids. This includes digitalisation, expanded storage, and above all, interconnection. The Iberian Peninsula remains one of the most isolated electricity regions in Europe, with limited capacity to export or import electricity to and from the rest of the continent. This ‘energy island’ effect limits flexibility and makes both Spain and Portugal more vulnerable to disruptions. Enhancing cross-border interconnection, especially with France, is not just a Spanish problem, it’s a European priority (Peñasco 2025). The European Commission has emphasised that no member state can meet its climate targets alone. A fully integrated energy market, with robust grid infrastructure and real-time coordination, is the backbone of the EU Green Deal. According to the IEA (2024), grid investment must double by 2030 to support decarbonisation goals. And that includes transnational projects like the Pyrenean connections, the Mediterranean ring, and North Sea interconnectors.

Because the real risk isn’t only technical. A blackout can fade from memory, but a loss of public confidence can linger. If political opportunism or misinformation turns clean energy into a scapegoat, we risk sabotaging the only viable path to a clean, secure, and affordable energy future. The energy transition needs more than solar panels and wind turbines. It requires cables, transformers, batteries, storage plants, public investment, international cooperation, and above all, a population that believes in the journey.

Quintana, J (2024), “The impact of renewable energies on wholesale electricity prices”, Banco de Espana Economic Bulletin 2024/Q3.

Peñasco, C (2025), “France’s Green Horizon: Supply-Side Drivers for a Competitive Transition in Export Markets”, Banque de France Working Paper 990 (in French).

Gorenstein Dedecca J, M Ansarin, C Bene, T van Delzen, L van Nuffel and H Jagtenberg (2025), Increasing Flexibility in the EU Energy System: Technologies and policies to enable the integration of renewable electricity sources, study requested by the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, Policy Department for Transformation, Innovation and Health, European Parliament.

Peñasco, C and E Grossman (2025), “The paradox of environmental consciousness: dissecting the gap between climate change awareness, environmental concern and policy support”, Climate Policy, 1–18.

Peters, B G (2018), The politics of bureaucracy: An introduction to comparative public administration, Routledge.

IEA (2024). World Energy Investment 2024, IEA/OECD, Paris, France.