REE, the Spanish power grid operator, defends its planning in advance of a blackout

REE, the Spanish grid operator, defended its plans for a widespread blackout that occurred last year on Tuesday and called the testimony of energy executives before a Senate committee hearing "mere speculations".

On April 28, last year, Europe's biggest blackout in over two decades paralyzed cities and left people stuck on trains throughout Portugal and Spain.

REE, owned by Redeia?correctly? operated the system, in strict compliance?with existing?regulations?, the grid operator stated in a Tuesday press release.

It said that "any conclusions?drawn?from the events of April 28 cannot be based on mere conjecture or?general statements, such as the ones made at the previous session of the (senate committee) committee," Iberdrola Spain's CEO Mario Ruiz Tagle denied that mismanagement of a solar power plant owned by Iberdrola Spain could have been a factor in the outage. This was after Redeia Chairperson Beatriz Corredor had told the same committee this had made the system more vulnerable. Jose Bogas, the chief executive officer of Endesa told the same committee the utility's plants had complied with the rules and were not disconnected improperly that day. He blamed the blackout on REE’s energy mix planning.

(source: Reuters)