Storm Kristin slows down wind energy and REE cuts power to industry for the first time in 2026

Red Eléctrica de España (REE) activated the Active Demand Response Service (SRAD) for the first time in 2026 this Wednesday, interrupting the supply to large industries between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. to protect the balance of the peninsular system. Faced with a sharp drop in renewable energy generation caused by Storm Kristin, the system operator was forced to request a reduction in consumption of 860 MW after noting a deficit of almost 5.000 MW in wind power production. While forecasts pointed to 12.500 MW, actual generation barely exceeded 7.500 MW in the early morning, due to safety shutdowns of wind turbines caused by wind gusts exceeding 90 km/h and reduced imports from Portugal. This exceptional measure ensured that power reserve levels remained within the safety margins established in the operating procedures.

5.000 MW disappeared from the map

The trigger was a critical weather combination: Storm Kristin, the sixth major storm in January, brought such strong winds that paradoxically they reduced wind power production.Many wind farms had to shut down their turbines to prevent structural damage. This forced shutdown created a sudden generation shortfall right as morning demand was about to increase. REE confirmed that scheduled production was around 12.500 MW, but the reality at 8:00 AM showed only 7.500 MW available, a 5.000 MW shortfall difficult to cover instantly with other technologies.

Furthermore, the adverse situation simultaneously affected Portugal, which It drastically reduced the capacity to import electricity through the Iberian interconnection.This eliminated a common safety valve for the Spanish system during times of stress. Faced with the impossibility of matching supply and demand with conventional generation resources and secondary and tertiary regulation reserves, REE resorted to the SRAD as a last resort for balancing the grid before compromising its frequency stability.

The cost of security: 255 million

The Active Demand Response Service (ADRS) is not an unexpected blackout, but a paid flexibility mechanism: Participating industries are paid to be available to reduce consumption, and on this occasion 860 MW of the 1.725 ​​MW awarded for the first half of 2026 were activated. This service has a budget of 255 million euros for the current period, a cost that is passed on to all consumers through the tolls on their electricity bills.

The auction held on November 28 closed at a marginal price of 65 euros per MW per hour. a significant price increase compared to previous editions, which industry sources attribute to the "fear effect" following the incident on April 28.This occurred when a failure in the interconnection with France caused a partial blackout on the Iberian Peninsula. This increase reflects a greater appreciation for security of supply in a system with massive renewable penetration, where unmanageable variability (such as a storm that shuts down wind turbines) requires increasingly larger rapid response buffers.

A year without interruptions broken in January

Cristina Corchero, founder of Bamboo Energy, highlighted the exceptional nature of the event: "In 2025 there were no supply disruptions under this mechanism, so you could say that this is the first time between last year and this year that it has been effectively used." The fact that REE had to "push the button" before the end of January suggests that 2026 could be a more demanding year of operational management, marked by extreme weather events that stress the infrastructure.

The activation of the SRAD demonstrates that the energy transition is shifting the focus from "baseline generation" to "flexibility"Previously, safety was ensured by large thermal power plants running on inertia; now, it's provided by industries capable of shutting down in 15 minutes and by (still in their infancy) batteries. For energy-intensive industries, this revenue provides relief from their energy costs, but the effective shutdown poses a production challenge: stopping furnaces or process lines incurs operational and logistical costs that must be offset by the compensation received.

The system holds up, but it warns.

Although REE emphasized that "the continuity of supply has not been compromised at any time" for domestic and commercial consumers, the episode is a reminder of the physical vulnerability of the network to the weather. That an excess of wind causes a lack of wind energy is a well-known technical paradox (cut-out speed), but managing it in real time with a 5.000 MW deviation requires precision tools.

The response worked: the system didn't crash, the frequency was maintained, and the gap was filled by cutting industrial demand instead of generation. However, It raises questions about whether SRAD's 1.725 ​​MW will be sufficient in the future if climate volatility increases.Or whether it will be necessary to scale up demand and storage mechanisms to prevent "shutting down factories" from becoming routine every time there's a storm. For now, the system saved the matchball Kristin's, but the price of that security (255 million every six months) and the operational complexity are, undoubtedly, on the rise.