Thinking Lens

Europe’s highly interconnected energy grid is one of the continent’s technological achievements, enabling countries to share electricity across borders with impressive speed and efficiency. It embodies a spirit of cooperation and resilience in the face of fluctuating energy production, regional imbalances, and growing renewable sources. But recent events in Spain and Portugal exposed a critical vulnerability: interconnectivity alone is not enough.

Earlier this month, a rare atmospheric phenomenon disrupted power generation and consumption patterns across the Iberian Peninsula. The result? A massive blackout that affected millions. While the fault did not lie in the concept of interconnection itself, it highlighted a major blind spot in Europe’s energy strategy: the underinvestment in large-scale energy storage.

When one node in a tightly woven grid collapses, the shock can cascade through the network. This is precisely what happened. The disruption caused sudden imbalances in power flows, leading to an automatic shutoff of transmission lines to prevent further damage. But what if those imbalances could have been buffered, locally and instantly?

Energy storage is the missing piece. With sufficient regional storage capacity, affected areas could have stabilized their own systems temporarily, reducing the need to draw emergency power from neighboring countries. This would have absorbed the shock locally and prevented the domino effect that triggered the blackout.

Modern grid-scale storage technologies – from lithium-ion battery farms to pumped hydro and compressed air systems – are no longer experimental. They are proven, scalable, and increasingly affordable. And in a Europe striving to integrate renewables while phasing out fossil fuels, storage is not optional; it’s essential.

The Iberian incident should not lead us to question interconnection. On the contrary, it should motivate us to complete the puzzle. Europe needs both interconnectivity and distributed storage. One enables solidarity; the other ensures resilience.

As we electrify everything from transport to heating, and as extreme weather becomes more frequent, energy reliability is a matter of social and economic stability. The tools exist. The urgency is real. Let’s make sure we’re not just connected – but prepared.