Recording of Tuesday, June 23, 2026 | The smarter E Europe Conferences 2026 | Language: English | Duration: 19:23 .

Impact of Blackouts and Renewable Energy in Southern Europe

SMA, established in 1981 in Germany, is a leader in power conversion technologies with nearly 200 gigawatts of global capacity, ranking as one of the most sustainable companies. A significant blackout on April 28 affected Spain, Portugal, and parts of France, revealing vulnerabilities in the Iberian Peninsula's limited electrical interconnectivity. Spain possesses one of the highest renewable energy usage rates in Europe, utilizing around 9 gigawatts of distributed solar power, which complicates power management due to many unregistered installations. The blackout highlighted power generation issues, including significant voltage fluctuations, cascading effects of overvoltage, and operational challenges due to the retiring of conventional power plants. Restoration efforts saw about 50% of Spanish consumers reconnected by 5 PM, emphasizing both community resilience and the challenges faced due to inadequate voltage control. The aftermath pointed to critical discussions on grid management, the performance of renewable energy plants, and the necessity for advancements in grid-forming technologies. The event underlined economic losses and reputational damage while spurring interest in innovative solutions for future black-start operations.

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Speaker

Dr. Enrique Garralaga
Managing Director
SMA Altenso GmbH
Germany

Talk of session: Inverter-Dominated Power Grids - How do we Overcome our Dependency on Turning Masses of Fossil Power Plants?

The share of renewable energies in European power systems is steadily increasing: Germany has already achieved approximately 60 percent, and most of the renewable energy is provided by the volatile sources wind and solar. This is the bright side of the story, but conventional power plants, which have been responsible for grid stability until now, are also being shut down. A further increase in renewable shares requires a shift in the paradigm towards grids operating safely and reliably with power electronic assets. In this context, energy storage systems with grid-forming inverters play a key role, and this session is dedicated to technological solutions, the development and adaptation of grid codes, market incentives and, as well as best practices. Additionally, we will ask whether the way in which grid stability was coordinated in the era of turning masses from momentum reserve to FCR, aFRR and mFRR is still appropriate for inverter-dominated grids.

Further Talks of this session:

Welcome and Introduction

Speaker

Dr. Matthias Vetter
Energy Storage Chief Expert
Huawei Nuremberg Research Center
Germany

To Talk

The Role of Grid-Forming Inverters in Renewable Energy Integration

Speaker

Cormac Gilligan
Director, Technologies & Supply Chains
S&P Global Energy

To Talk

Grid Stability Lessons from One of Europe's Biggest Batteries

Speaker

Raymond Walsh
General Manager, Project Management
Wärtsilä Energy Storage
USA

To Talk

Island Grids and Blackstart: A Grid-Forming LFP Battery System for MVA Ingolstadt

Speaker

Christoph Richter
Product Manager
Freqcon GmbH

To Talk

Panel Discussion

To Talk