Finance
Spain's power grid rejects blame for blackout, pledges record investment
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 30, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 30, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Redeia defends its role in April's blackout, pledging record investments. Chair Corredor survives shareholder vote amid criticism.
By Pietro Lombardi
MADRID (Reuters) -The chair of Spanish electricity grid operator Redeia defended the company after a massive blackout in April and pledged record investment at a tense shareholder meeting on Monday, where she survived an impromptu vote on her removal.
Redeia has faced criticism over a massive power outage that left most of Spain and Portugal in the dark on April 28. But chair Beatriz Corredor again pinned the blame on power generating companies.
Along with Chief Executive Roberto Garcia Merino, Corredor defended Redeia's actions before and during the blackout, including its planning of power sources to control voltage and management of the interconnector with France.
A government report on the outage pointed to Redeia's failure to calculate the correct mix of energy as one of the factors hindering the grid's ability to cope with a surge in voltage that ultimately led to the blackout.
The country's largest energy companies have also criticised the management of the power link with France.
BLACKOUT FALLOUT
On Monday, Corredor secured the backing of shareholders, who voted to keep her in position in an unplanned vote held at the request of one shareholder.
The CEO ruled out setting aside provisions to cover any costs related to the blackout, saying Redeia always followed existing rules and procedures. But Corredor acknowledged risks to its reputation.
"The numerous episodes of misinformation ... have intensified pressure and public scrutiny over Redeia," she added.
Corredor pledged to defend the company and its workforce "in the face of unfounded, and sometimes very serious, accusations seeking to undermine our reputation".
Energy firms, analysts and politicians have called for more investment in Spain's power grids.
"The company's next strategic plan will involve the execution of an unprecedented volume of investments," Corredor said, without giving details.
Investments have been increasing in recent years and will surpass 1.4 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in 2025, Garcia Merino said.
($1 = 0.8537 euros)
(Reporting by Pietro Lombardi. Editing by Inti Landauro and Mark Potter)
The blackout on April 28 was attributed to Redeia's failure to calculate the correct mix of energy, which hindered the grid's ability to manage a voltage surge.
Chair Beatriz Corredor defended Redeia's actions and blamed power generating companies for the outage, while also acknowledging the pressure from misinformation.
Corredor pledged to execute an unprecedented volume of investments, with plans to surpass 1.4 billion euros in 2025.
At the shareholder meeting, Corredor secured support from shareholders, who voted to keep her in position despite the ongoing criticism.
Corredor acknowledged that the blackout posed risks to Redeia's reputation, intensifying public scrutiny and calls for more investment in the power grid.
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