Spain has seen a dramatic increase in gas demand for electricity generation, rising by nearly 37% from January to September. This surge comes as the country turned to more gas-fired power to stabilize the grid after Europe’s most significant blackout in modern history.

In late April, Spain and Portugal experienced an unprecedented blackout that left millions without power for hours, serving as a stark reminder to the EU and beyond that, despite the rapid growth of renewable energy, a secure power supply hinges on the ability of grids to adapt to clean energy and meet escalating demand.

Following the outage, the share of combined-cycle generation rose by 36.8% in the first nine months of 2025 compared to the previous year. Spain’s gas grid operator, Enagas, reported that gas played a crucial role in bolstering electricity supply security.

Overall, Spain’s total demand for natural gas and exports reached 267.6 terrawatts (TWh) in the first three quarters of 2025, marking a 6.6% increase from the prior year.

The country also ramped up gas exports, particularly to France, to support its underground storage facilities and maintain its regasification terminals.

Earlier this month, an expert panel from the European network of electricity transmission system operators, ENTSO-E, released a report analyzing the April blackout in Spain and Portugal.

The report emphasized the “exceptional and unprecedented nature” of the incident, noting that it was the first time a cascading series of disconnections and voltage increases contributed to a blackout in the Continental Europe Synchronous Area.

In summary, the report indicated that excessive voltage was the primary factor behind the blackout. A comprehensive final report is expected in the first quarter of 2026, detailing the findings from investigations into the outage’s root causes.