When Barcelona’s electrical grid failed earlier this week, the city’s inhabitants speculated that it must have been a Russian cyberattack. The grid operator quickly ruled out this possibility, though, and the explanation appears to be more prosaic. The real culprit is the shift towards an energy monoculture: specifically, the overwhelming dominance of renewables in Spain’s energy mix.

While the blackouts exposed the acute vulnerability of Spain’s energy system, the country’s socialist government is still seeking to remove nuclear power, which helps stabilise the grid, from the energy mix. The phase-out is scheduled to take place between 2027 and 2035. Spain, clearly, is still stuck in a post-Fukushima mindset. The anti-nuclear wave, which peaked in Europe during Angela Merkel’s heyday, seems to persist in Madrid.

Germany, meanwhile, is now expressing regret over its nuclear phase-out. Lawmakers from the governing Christian Democratic Union have published a study demonstrating the feasibility of restarting the six decommissioned reactors, effectively settling the debate that has been ongoing since the start of the war in Ukraine. Another study found that if Germany had rejected the Energiewende — the energy transition that became a model for many EU countries and excluded nuclear — and instead maintained its fleet of reactors while investing further in the sector, the country would have produced 73% fewer CO₂ emissions by 2022, while spending only half of what the programme ultimately cost.

The so-called “nuclear renaissance” is not just confined to Germany. It’s also happening in France, where President Emmanuel Macron has announced investments in new reactors. Then there’s the UK, where the government is aiming to create a more favourable regulatory environment, and Belgium, where a 2003 decision to phase out nuclear power has been reversed. Turkey is constructing its first nuclear power plants, with part of the Akkuyu facility expected to begin generating electricity as early as this year. Meanwhile, China — the world’s largest industrial power — is emerging as a nuclear energy superpower: by 2030, it is projected to have built more plants than the rest of the world combined during the entire 21st century.

Spain’s government, though it doesn’t say so openly, understands that a stable energy supply cannot rely solely on renewables. Acknowledging this would mean contradicting the imperative of strategic autonomy and increasing dependence on gas imports from the United States, Algeria, and Russia. At the same time, it’s worth noting that the world’s leading producer of solar panels is China — meaning that the hundreds of millions which Spain has invested in solar energy have ultimately benefitted not European manufacturers, but instead their Asian rivals.

Catalonia, home to two nuclear power plants, is one of Spain’s major industrial centres. Renewable energy sources in the region are not expanding quickly enough to compensate for the loss of nuclear energy, as the construction of storage facilities and additional installations faces resistance from local activists and environmentalists. In the midst of a push for reindustrialisation across the Western world, Pedro Sánchez’s policy appears not only incomprehensible, but costly and self-defeating. Phasing out nuclear power — which provided 58% of Catalonia’s electricity in 2023 — will undermine the country’s industrial base and deter future investment. According to a PwC analysis, eliminating nuclear energy will increase electricity prices for consumers and small to medium-sized businesses by 23%.

First in line for closure is the Almaraz power plant, which produces 7% of Spain’s electricity and provides jobs for 3,000 people. Earlier this year, the president of the Extremadura region, where the plant is located, sent a letter to Sánchez, noting that the plant received the highest possible rating from the World Association of Nuclear Operators, and that its operation could be safely extended for decades. The letter went unanswered. Manufacturers and energy companies, such as Iberdrola, are also trying to persuade the government to reverse its decision.

Economist Luis Garicano, in his book El Dilema de España, argues that unless the country undertakes serious reforms, it risks becoming a Latin American–style failed state. Spain’s apparent prosperity is largely an illusion. Its GDP per capita is 40% lower than Germany’s and 30% lower than France’s, and in 2020 it was overtaken by Lithuania and Slovenia by the same measure. Similarly, an unemployment rate of 11% points more toward Greece than any convergence with the eurozone core. The sabotage of energy independence is another cause for serious concern. This week’s blackouts may well be a glimpse of a deeper decline to come.

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