This crisis is not like the others

At the Moncloa Palace, they often say that Pedro Sánchez thrives in crises. But last Monday's blackout is a different story. The big difference compared to the pandemic, the La Palma volcano, or the inflation stemming from the war in Ukraine is that, this time, the origin of the calamity is not attributable to external or inevitable causes. Although the exact causes of the energy blackout that left the entire Peninsula without power are not yet known , it is likely a failure in our system, attributable to private, public, or mixed agents. Or all of them at the same time.

A nationwide blackout has a huge reputational cost and is not a harmless event for a government. This is not the case even if the recovery process is addressed more or less efficiently. Determining what went wrong and who is responsible can take technicians some time, but it is essential to inform citizens and avoid the feeling that the truth is being hidden or taken for a ride. In any case, it would be difficult to understand if it had no consequences, especially when one of the main players in the system, ultimately responsible for security across the entire grid, is a state-owned company like Red Eléctrica (REE).

Sánchez's appearance highlighted the need to point the finger at someone responsible and the inability to do so with full knowledge of the facts until all the facts were available. Hence, his targeting of private operators was striking, including the photo taken at the Moncloa Palace in front of the electricity companies, from whom he seemed to be demanding explanations. This image adds to the ongoing confrontation between the president and the large energy companies over taxation; a confrontation that has served Sánchez politically to show himself before the public on the side of citizens' interests against those of large corporations.

But in the middle is Red Eléctrica, a listed company with 20% public ownership and a president closely aligned with the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party). Beatriz Corredor was Minister of Housing under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The former president maintains considerable influence in the current government, having saved it from several adverse votes thanks to his mediating efforts with both Junts and Podemos. The ongoing investigation will also need to determine where REE might have gone wrong, even if the source of the failure was a private plant.

Some communities have enthusiastically embraced energy-intensive data centers

The Moncloa government assures that "no one will be hidden," but that it is necessary to fully understand how the blackout originated and why the systems failed to work to isolate its effects. Perhaps the former may be the responsibility of private companies, but ensuring the latter, in general terms, falls to REE. Whether it is a specific action that failed or the blackout is attributable to a lack of preparation or investment in the grid, the government must assume its share of responsibility. And the more time passes, the more the feeling that it is shirking may spread.

This time, it's not so much a matter of responding effectively to a crisis, since once the energy crisis occurred, all experts agree that it was recovered relatively quickly, but rather a matter of Sánchez's own credibility. Nor is the government concerned about the opposition the PP may mount. Carlos Mazón's continued leadership of the Valencian Generalitat (Generalitat Valenciana) shackles Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

The reaction of the autonomous communities governed by the Popular Party (PP), who immediately handed over control of the emergency to the government, is curious. Undoubtedly, what happened with the disaster weighed heavily on their minds, and they put the bandage before the wound, placing all responsibility on Sánchez, in anticipation of the situation on the streets becoming more complicated, something very likely had the blackout lasted longer. As always, Isabel Díaz Ayuso went further and demanded that the government deploy not only the EMU (Union of Emergency Units), but the Army directly, on the streets of Madrid.

None of this complicates Sánchez's situation, but the debate over nuclear power is worrying in the Moncloa Palace. All experts point out that renewables have gained significant weight in the energy mix and that what they call "inertia" in the system may have been lacking. Although this can be achieved in different ways, such as installing batteries or through hydropower, it has fueled the debate over nuclear power, whose closure the government plans to achieve by 2035.

In Moncloa, the concern is not the PP, which bears the burden, but the debate on nuclear and renewable energy.

The People's Party (PP) is already encouraging this approach. In fact, before the blackout, it already made extending the life of nuclear plants a condition for approving the aid decree to mitigate the effects of Trump's tariffs. The debate has always had a very marked ideological bias between the anti-nuclear left and the pro-nuclear right. The government has also backed renewable energy not only because it is cleaner, but also to increase the competitiveness of the Spanish economy with cheaper energy compared to neighboring countries.

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However, another important factor, the emergence of Artificial Intelligence, has yet to enter the political discussion. Some regions have enthusiastically embraced the opening of data centers for multinational technology companies without taking into account the enormous energy requirements these facilities require. The parties should present their proposals regarding this in next Wednesday's debate in Congress.