Spain's Grid Launches Demand Response, Cutting 943 MW of Industrial Load for Nearly 2 Hours

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 28, Spanish grid operator Red Eléctrica once again activated its Active Demand Response service (SRAD), requiring industrial users participating in the mechanism to temporarily reduce their electricity load. The called capacity was 943 MW, starting at around 21:16 and lasting nearly 2 hours, corresponding to approximately 1.634 GWh of curtailed electricity — the highest single-call curtailment volume among the multiple SRAD activations in 2026.

The activation occurred when actual wind power output was significantly below the day-ahead market clearing level and subsequent production plans. The day-ahead market cleared nearly 9 GW of wind for the 21:00 hour, while Red Eléctrica's final production and consumption plan P48 projected wind output of approximately 6.8 GW; by around 21:15, real-time wind output had fallen below 4.5 GW and further declined to 3.8 GW over the following two hours. Market reports, citing information from Red Eléctrica, stated that system supply security was not threatened at the time and that SRAD was used to adjust the real-time supply-demand balance.

The clearing price for this round of industrial load curtailment was approximately 116 euros/MWh, lower than previous activations. During the same period, the Spanish electricity spot market price was around 280 euros/MWh, with the daily wholesale market average price close to 200 euros/MWh. In addition to demand response, combined-cycle units also reduced approximately 1,000 MW of load during the same period to assist with system regulation.

This was Spain's seventh SRAD activation in approximately 10 weeks since July 15, with the July 15 activation implemented in two phases on the same day. Including one activation in January of this year, the frequency of SRAD activations in 2026 has been significantly higher than in previous years. According to Red Eléctrica data, the awarded SRAD capacity for the second half of 2026 is 1,775 MW, up from 1,725 MW in the first half. The mechanism is voluntarily provided by participating companies and compensated, used to rapidly curtail demand when the grid requires it.

In the first eight months of this year, the cost of Spain's system regulation services — including technical constraints, secondary frequency regulation, and active demand response — exceeded 3.6 billion euros, of which SRAD accounted for approximately 286 million euros. Red Eléctrica stated that these services are regulated balancing mechanisms necessary for the normal operation of the power system.