The 2025 Iberian Blackout: Will There be More?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The goal of the paper is to analyse the Iberian blackout and determine its direct and underlying causes. We ask the questions: Are renewables to blame? Are other systems with high renewable penetration in danger of a blackout? RECENT FINDINGS: There are few publications analysing the blackout. Only one discusses lessons for modern power systems and policy implications. SUMMARY: The direct cause of the Iberian blackout was an unexpected interaction between oscillations and voltage stability compounded by inadequate voltage control arrangements in Spain. However, the underlying cause is that Spain has concentrated in recent years on increasing the share of renewables but seems to have paid less attention to adapting power system operation and control to the changing needs. The rapidly increasing share of renewables in many power systems causes a profound change in the way power systems behave, which we do not yet fully understand. Hence a significant interdisciplinary effort of academia and industry is required to overcome the challenges and prevent future blackouts.