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After a power outage, Spain and Portugal request that the EU push for power connections with France
A letter obtained by revealed that Spain and Portugal asked the European Union (EU) to intervene to encourage the construction of more interconnectors between France and Spain after a major power outage in the Iberian Peninsula occurred last month. Spain and Portugal are only connected to a limited number of power grids in Europe. They claim that France is blocking new interconnections that could prevent power disruptions such as the one that affected the Iberian Peninsula. The strengthening of an existing interconnector that connects France and Spain is expected to be finished this year. A new underwater powerline that spans the Bay of Biscay will be completed in 2028. Spain and Portugal urged Brussels in a letter sent to EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen on Wednesday, which was seen by, to take action to ensure that new interconnections projects are progressed. The letter signed by the Spanish Energy Minister Sara Aagesen, and the Portuguese Energy Minister Maria da Graca Carvalho, stated that "a firm commitment at all levels is required to ensure the rapid and effective integration into the EU's energy system of the Iberian Peninsula." The letter stated that "Spain, Portugal and France propose a meeting of ministers during this year, where we, along with France and the Commission can agree on a road map with specific milestones, and steps to take." Un spokesperson for the European Commission confirmed that it received the letter and had been in contact with the governments. A spokesperson for France’s energy minister didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry for comment about the letter. In its recent multi-year planning document, French grid operator RTE studied the feasibility of constructing two additional interconnections to Spain over the Pyrenees. RTE's report on planning said that it would expect EU financing for any such upgrades as the goal would increase interconnection to Spain "with the beneficiaries located outside France." France gets most of its electricity from nuclear power plants. Iberia, on the other hand, uses more renewable energy sources. Their fluctuating production increases the need for flexibility within the grid. Iberia is behind the EU target of connecting 15% of its electricity capacity with neighbouring countries by 2030. Iberia's share is only 3%. Spain and Portugal claim that this increases prices and hinders the ability of their grids to respond to interruptions. By allowing power to move between countries, interconnectors help stabilize energy grids. The letter stated that "accelerating completion of electrical interconnections with Iberian Peninsula should be among the highest priorities." In Europe, power outages as severe as those in Spain and Portugal in the last month are uncommon. The blackout was a major disruption, causing planes to be grounded and hospitals to stop their routine operations. The EU is investigating the cause. Both a spokesperson from the energy ministry of Portugal and Spain confirmed that their respective ministers had signed the letter.
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Boeing accelerates 737 production as safety and quality culture improves
Doug Ackerman, Vice President of Quality for Commercial Airplanes at Boeing, told reporters Tuesday that the company expects to stabilize 737 MAX output at 38 aircraft per month in the coming months. After a mid air panel blowout on a brand new 737, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration set a monthly production limit of 38 aircrafts. Boeing's best-selling plane had been fluctuating between the teens to the thirties in monthly production. But the company has struggled with a series crises and controversy that have weakened its finances, damaged employee morale, and undermined public trust. The U.S. aircraft manufacturer needs to increase production of the 737 to generate more cash after losing $12 billion in 2012. Two sources familiar with the situation said that the company was on track to manufacture about 38 single-aisle aircrafts in May. Boeing's spokesperson refused to comment on May's production rate. Boeing's chief executive Kelly Ortberg said previously that the company must prove that it can continue production at this level for several more months before asking the FAA to raise the cap. Ackerman stated that once production runs smoothly, Ackerman's company will also begin work to add a fourth line. Boeing has made steady progress in all six metrics for production quality and safety created by the company, as well as regulators. This is according to the annual Chief Aerospace Safety Officer Report released on Wednesday. The report states that the number of safety concerns reported by employees through the Speak Up system has increased by 220% between 2023 and 2024. Don Ruhmann, the Chief Aerospace Safety officer at the Tuesday media briefing, said that the program is becoming more effective as a result of the ongoing changes. Safety concerns, for example, are now assessed by managers in other sections, who are likely to be more impartial than those who supervise the work. Boeing uses machine learning as well to detect quality issues in its supply chain and fix them before they spread. Ackerman stated that while the company is still "fine-tuning" its approach, they are seeing statistical correlations in the data between supply chain issues and the data. Reporting by Dan Catchpole and Allison Lampert, both in Seattle; editing by Kirby Donovan.
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US air traffic control system failing Americans, airline CEOs say
On Wednesday, major airline CEOs called on Congress for billions of dollars to fund the modernization of the United States' outdated air traffic control system. They said it was "failing Americans." Air traffic control problems at the Federal Aviation Administration have been brewing for years. A series of high-profile accidents, near misses and the deadly crash of an aircraft in January have all contributed to this. American Airlines regional jet Public alarm prompted new calls to action In a letter sent together, airline executives pointed to recent failures at Newark Airport. They also said that the FAA’s technology was "wildly outdated." The letter cited a 2023 review by an independent group that raised safety issues. Executives called for immediate action, as the busy summer travel period begins this weekend with Memorial Day. The FAA predicted on Tuesday a record number Memorial Day holiday flights, despite temporary flight reductions at Newark because of runway construction issues, technology problems and persistent staffing shortages in air traffic control. The letter was signed and dated by senior executives from FedEx, UPS, and United Airlines as well as the heads of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways. This month, airlines and others called for at least $11 billion to be spent on air traffic reform. The U.S. House of Representatives is examining legislation that would allocate an initial $12.5 Billion for air traffic reform efforts. Sean Duffy, the U.S. Transportation secretary, wants to spend billions on replacing outdated radar systems and telecommunications equipment as well as air traffic towers and other air traffic facilities. The FAA is seeking funding to upgrade radios and network connections, replace 618 radars and install anti-collision technology on 200 airports. It also wants to build six new air-traffic control centers, and expand the ADS-B system of real-time information about aircraft traffic. The FAA has about 3,500 fewer air traffic controllers than the targeted levels. (Reporting and editing by Louise Heavens, Joe Bavier, and David Shepardson)
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Deutsche ReGas gets EU funding for Lubmin hydrogen project
Deutsche ReGas announced on Wednesday that it would receive public grants worth 112 million euro ($126.97m) from the European Union Hydrogen Bank to fund a renewable hydrogen development project in Lubmin, Germany on the Baltic Sea coast. The grant is part of EU funding schemes that promote electrolysis processes using carbon-free electric to jump-start local economies producing hydrogen as an alternate to fossil fuels. ReGas has said that the production of hydrogen at Lubmin can reduce carbon dioxide by 1.6 million tons. The funding for this project will be spread out over a period of 10 years. The EU subsidy is intended to close the price gap between the green hydrogen production costs and conventional electricity prices. ReGas announced that the funding was awarded at a 992-million euro auction. This was the second one for the Hydrogen bank, and 15 projects from 5 countries received money. ReGas, a private energy infrastructure developer and operator, includes floating storage and regasification unit and hydrogen electrolysers. The Lubmin plant is located near the location where ReGas imported liquefied gas from a floating terminal after the energy crisis of 2022. It aims to use offshore wind energy as well as Baltic Sea water for the electrolysis process that will produce hydrogen. The new core hydrogen transport network is set to begin between 2025-2032. ReGas is moving its LNG operations from Lubmin in order to build an LNG landing facility at the nearby German Port area of Mukran, on Ruegen Island. Ingo Wagner, managing director, said: "From the beginning, we wanted to ensure energy supply while also advancing the energy transition." ReGas attached a document from the EU that stated grant agreements for the selected hydrogen projects by the EU during the auction round should be signed in September/October.
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Pre-tariff US traffic boosts revenue from the Ferrovial Highway
Ferrovial, a motorway and airports company, reported a first-quarter surprise revenue boost from freight traffic on US toll roads and Canadian toll roads, likely related to imports anticipating sweeping U.S. Tariffs, according to its CFO. The Spanish company's surge in revenue despite the adverse winter weather is part of a larger trend of increased commercial activities at U.S. roads and ports that predated U.S. president Donald Trump's announcement on April 1, 2017 of new tariffs. Many of these remain suspended. Ferrovial reported last week that its first-quarter revenues from its North American toll roads business rose by 14%. This shows growth in a region where the company plans to focus its investments over the next few years. Ernesto Lopez, Chief Financial Officer Ernesto Lopez said late on Tuesday that "we were the first ones to be surprised (that) the results were even better than we expected." Lopez added that the public data showed traffic on toll road levels to be higher than last year. Ferrovial is a Canadian company that operates toll roads and highways in the United States. Ferrovial also plans to bid on between four and six motorway construction projects located in California, Tennessee and North Carolina. Lopez said that the increase in commercial traffic could be due to a greater volume of goods entering Texas from the Mexican border. North Carolina traffic was also boosted by more companies sending their employees back to work. According to the U.S. Commerce Department Census Bureau, the U.S. Trade Deficit in Goods widened in March to a new record high as businesses increased efforts to bring merchandise in and to pre-empt the impact of tariffs. Imports to the U.S. reached a record $342.7 billion in March, mainly due to consumer goods and automobiles. (Reporting and editing by Andrei Khalip, David Goodman, and Corina Pons)
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Maguire: World solar power set to surpass nuclear generation for the first ever
This summer, the global electricity generated by solar farms will surpass the output of nuclear reactors. This is a significant milestone in the continued growth of solar energy within the global energy system. Solar farms generate electricity only during daylight hours, so their annual output is far behind that of wind, nuclear, and hydroelectric systems. Solar farms have started to exceed global wind production during the summer of last year in the northern hemisphere. Solar farms are now set to briefly eclipse global hydroelectric systems during peak solar production. CAPACITY SURGE Solar systems are relatively inexpensive and can be connected quickly, which is why utilities have added twice as much capacity as other sources of power to their generation networks over the last decade. According to Ember, the energy think-tank, by 2024 there will be 1,866 gigawatts of utility-scale solar power generation embedded in global electrical systems. This was the biggest capacity increase of all major power sources in that time period. Wind power has seen the second largest increase in capacity, by a factor 3.2. All other sources of generation have seen a capacity less than doubled. Solar power's capacity in terms of total was third among the major sources of power generation by 2024. It was behind coal's 2,174 gigawatts (GW) and natural gas's 2,055 gigawatts, but above the 1,283 gigawatts of hydroelectric and 1,132 GW wind power. OUTPUT AFFECT Since the beginning of this decade, peak solar electricity production has reached new heights every year due to the steadily increasing solar capacity footprint. Ember data show that utility-scale solar power generation has increased by 25% per year on average since 2020. Solar generation in the first three month of 2025 was 34% higher than in the same period of 2024. This was due to the widespread increase in generating capacities in many key regions. If the monthly solar production continues to be around 30% higher than in 2024's same month, then global solar electricity output will exceed 260 Terawatt Hours (TWh), per month, during June, July, and August this year. These output totals are likely to be far greater than the output of the nuclear reactor fleet in the world, which has a peak monthly production of 252 TWh and an average monthly output 223 TWh by 2024. As daylight hours begin to decrease in the northern Hemisphere, home to three quarters of all solar farms on the planet, solar generation is expected to fall below 250 TWh by September. Solar farms will supply more electricity than nuclear reactors in the world for the first ever during the summer of 2015. This is a new benchmark for the solar industry. UTILITY SCALE Utility operators face both challenges and opportunities as a result of the constant growth in solar energy supplies. Solar farms are intermittent and can produce more power than is needed at peak times, but then stop production completely during the night. This means that real-time balancing of systems with other sources of energy is necessary. The rapid growth of solar power in national grids also forces utilities to upgrade their grids so that they can better handle fluctuations in renewable energy and optimize the overall flow of electricity over time. A growing number of utilities are also deploying batteries to store excess solar power during times when it's not needed, then dispatching that power at peak electricity demand. The "solar plus battery" model allows utilities to limit the use of fossil-fuels in their generation mix, which in turn can save money when gas and coal prices increase and reduce emissions. When solar farms reach new output records this summer, utilities will be able reduce nuclear production at peak times, then increase it again when the solar output drops during the night. It could help utilities reduce their reliance on fossil-fuels, while maximising clean energy generation. This would also set the stage for future growth in solar power generation and usage. These are the opinions of the columnist, an author for.
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WGC - Despite challenges, major LNG suppliers push new projects to feed the global demand for power
The producers are pushing forward with their liquefied gas projects. They are banking on the urbanisation of the world and its technology sector, which will drive global demand for power and overcome such challenges as oversupply and rising costs. The LNG fuel is seen by many as a transitional fuel to zero emissions. Energy security is also a priority for governments around the world after Russia's invasion in Ukraine caused gas prices to reach record highs. Tengku Taufik of Malaysian energy company Petronas said at the World Gas Conference that Asia-Pacific economies were "ravenously hungry" for LNG. The proliferation of data centers supporting artificial intelligence (AI), he said, was also driving the demand. The need for reliable baseload energy from conventional sources has also been highlighted by power grid outages. You think that customers will have to wait for a week before they can get electricity? "No way." "They want 24/7 electricity," said Patrick Pouyanne CEO of French giant TotalEnergies. "Even if we build beautiful renewables systems... we need gas-fired plants." Woodside predicts that the demand for LNG will increase by 50% by 2030. Shell anticipates an additional 60% to reach 630-718 millions metric tons per year by 2040. LNG Canada, Corpus Christi LNG Phase 3 and Plaquemines LNG will be the main suppliers of new LNG this year to meet this growing demand. LNG Canada is expected to ship its initial cargo in June. TotalEnergies is pursuing new LNG project in Australia, Woodside Energy of Mexico Pacific LNG, Commonwealth LNG, and Australia's Woodside Energy. TotalEnergies hopes to lift force majeure for its $20 billion Mozambique Gas project by mid-summer and resume construction, Pouyanne stated. The project was stopped in 2021 after an insurgency led primarily by militants linked to the Islamic State swept through the region. RISE IN COSTS Concern over rising costs has dampened producers' optimism about the prospects of the market. TotalEnergies is, for instance, looking to reduce capital expenditure on its Papua New Guinea Project by 20 to 25 percent and expects to make a final investment decision in this year. Woodside Energy is also looking to sell another stake in its Louisiana LNG project. Industry executives warned that the wave projects could lead an oversupply which could lower prices. Ma Yongsheng of Sinopec Corp in China estimated that the new global liquefaction capability would be 420 million tonnes by 2030 – more than twice as much as expected growth in LNG imports worldwide. Andrew Walker, vice-president for LNG strategy at Cheniere Energy, also expects new supply to increase by a third by 2030 to 600 million tones. In order to ensure that LNG demand continues, it is important that LNG prices are competitive, particularly in markets with high price sensitivity, like South and Southeast Asia which heavily depend on coal power generation. "We want to make the price affordable." We don't think southwest Asia should switch to coal because the asset will be there for at least 40-60 years. Jack Fusco, CEO of Cheniere, said that it was not good for both the company and for the entire world. (Reporting and writing by Colleen howe and Sam Li; editing by Florence Tan and Tomaszjanowski)
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EU investigates alleged illegal dumping of tires from China
Following a complaint by the EU tyre sector, the European Commission opened an investigation on Wednesday to determine whether anti-dumping actions are required on imports from China of passenger car and light truck tyres. The Commission said that if the investigation confirmed that EU tyre industries suffer injury or are threatened with injury due to dumped imports coming from China, it may impose antidumping duties on these imports. The investigation must be completed within 14 months from the date of launch. "Provisional anti-dumping actions may be imposed in eight months if dumping has been established and a resultant injury is provisionally proven," the report added. The EU has already implemented anti-dumping measures and anti-subsidy policies on the importation of Chinese tyres and wheels for bus and lorry. In 2024, the EU market for passenger car tyres and light trucks is expected to be worth more than 18 billion euro ($20.41billion).
What could be causing the Iberian Power Outage?
A massive blackout in Spain, Portugal, and parts of France has halted trains and bank machines, as well as traffic lights. It was one of the biggest power system failures ever seen in Europe.
Cyber Attack?
The Spanish grid operator Red Electrica has ruled out cyber attacks as the cause, but the High Court of Spain said that it will open an investigation in order to determine the reason.
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez
Red Electrica said on Tuesday that just because it had ruled out any cyber attacks on its systems did not mean they could not have occurred.
EXPLAINATIONS SO FAR
Red Electrica reported that it had identified at least two incidents in southwest Spain of power loss caused by solar plants. This led to instability in the electrical system, and a breakdown in its interconnection with France. Electrical system collapsed, impacting both Spanish and Portuguese systems.
During the power outage, Spain exported electricity to France and Portugal. The exports to France reached close to their net export capacity up to 1000 local time. Red Electrica data shows that exports to France ceased at 1235 local times, from 868MW earlier.
On Tuesday, EU Energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen announced that the European Union would begin a comprehensive investigation into the power outages occurring in Spain and Portugal.
The Spanish grid is connected to those of France and Portugal as well as Morocco and Andorra.
What causes power outages?
Extreme weather conditions such as high winds, storms or lightning are the most common causes of unplanned power cuts that disable electricity on a wide scale. At the time of the collapse on Monday, it was a fair day.
When there are faults in power stations, distribution lines, or substations, they can cause power outages.
To ensure stability, the flow of electricity between systems is kept at 50 Hertz. Backup systems will disconnect power generation sources and other assets from the grid if that level changes.
SPAIN'S ENERGY MULTIPLE
Data from the think tank Ember show that Spain is among Europe's largest producers of renewable energy. It relies on wind and sun for 43%, which is well above the average global rate.
Red Electrica's data shows that solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, and nuclear power plants made up 59% of Spain’s electricity during the blackout. Solar PV was 50%, wind 3% and nuclear almost 15% on the same date last year.
The data revealed that in just five minutes between 1230 and 1035 local time (1030-1035 GMT), on Monday, the solar PV production dropped by over 50%, from 18 gigawatts to 8 GW. The cause of the drop is unknown.
What factors could be involved?
Experts and industry sources stated that the Spanish grid had very little inertia. Inertia is the energy stored in large rotating steam or gasoline turbine driving and rotating generators. It acts as a cushion as it can be quickly used to compensate sudden changes in supply or demand.
Solar provides a small rotating mass for the grid.
Around 5% of Monday's electricity was generated by gas-fired generators. In Spain, coal generation will be phased out by 2025. The largest coal-fired plant in Spain was shut down last year.
How can power be restored?
A "black start" is the process of restoring electricity after a major outage. This involves slowly restarting each power plant and reconnecting it to the grid.
Spain increased its power imports and turned on more hydropower and gas plants as it tried to regain power.
EXCESS RENEWABLES?
The collapse on Monday has led to a debate over whether the volatile supply of solar and winds has made Spain's electricity systems more susceptible to an outage.
The Prime Minister Sanchez stated on Tuesday that there is no problem with excess renewable energy. He added that the demand was low at the time of blackout and there was an ample supply.
EU Commissioner
Jorgensen
The cause of the blackout can't be attributed to a particular energy source.
The rapid growth of renewables has led to grid overloads during periods with high sunlight and low demand. Wholesale electricity prices have sometimes fallen to zero or even negative, forcing solar farms into a reduction of their output.
Analysts predict that solar farms will continue to expand in Spain and Portugal, resulting in a rise in negative price-hours in 2025 (reporting by Nina Chestney and Pietro Lombardi; editing by Jason Neely and Susan Fenton; and Gareth Jones).
(source: Reuters)