EU power grid faces trillion-dollar upgrade to avert blackouts

Europe’s ageing power grid and limited energy storage capacity urgently require trillions of dollars in investment to cope with growing renewable energy output and rising electricity demand, industry experts warn, especially after last week's major blackout in Spain and Portugal.

Kristina Ruby, Secretary General of Eurelectric, called the outage “a wake-up call,” stressing the need to modernise and reinforce the grid, Caliber.Az reports, referring to foreign media.

Much of the EU's power infrastructure is over 40 years old, and as clean energy and demand from electric vehicles and data centres surge, it is increasingly vulnerable, not only to overload but also cyberattacks.

While investment in renewables has nearly doubled since 2010, grid spending remains stagnant at around $300 billion annually. The International Energy Agency estimates this must double to $600 billion per year by 2030. The European Commission projects that $2.0–2.3 trillion will be needed by 2050 to meet the demand.

Spain, which has ramped up its renewables to 56% of its energy mix, is phasing out coal and nuclear power. However, grid projects take much longer to complete than wind or solar farms, making system balance difficult. Spain’s grid operator, Red Electrica, said two separate events caused the recent blackout. Investigations by national and EU authorities are ongoing.

The incident highlighted weak interconnections in southern Europe. Spain, for example, only has 5% external grid links and is working to improve this, including a new Bay of Biscay link with France. The EU aims to increase interconnection to 15% by 2030.

With solar and wind producing direct current (DC), and the grid requiring alternating current (AC), inverters must convert power for use. If supply drops, the grid needs instant back-up from traditional sources to maintain its 50 Hz frequency—otherwise, automatic shutdowns can cascade into full blackouts.

Spain has previously faced grid instability, and its plan to close all seven nuclear reactors by 2035 raises further concerns. Portugal has just two rapid-response backup plants, prompting Prime Minister Luís Montenegro to call for expansion.

Other European countries face similar risks. The UK experienced a large-scale blackout in 2019 and has since expanded battery storage, reaching 5 GW in 2023. Europe as a whole has 10.8 GW of storage capacity, projected to grow to 50 GW by 2030—far short of the 200 GW needed, according to the European Association for Storage of Energy.

In Ireland, Siemens Energy has built the world’s largest flywheel to store power and stabilise the grid, offering one example of the innovation needed continent-wide to prevent future outages.

By Tamilla Hasanova