Gas demand for power generation spiked last year as utilities boosted gas-powered output following the worst blackout in Europe’s modern history.
Spain’s demand for transported natural gas – domestic demand plus exports – rose by 7.4% to reach 372 terawatt-hours (TWh) last year, up from 346 TWh in 2024. The increase was largely driven by a 33.4% jump in gas demand for electricity generation, Spain’s gas grid operator Enagas said in its 2025 results release on Tuesday.
Exports also drove Spain’s demand for transported gas higher as they climbed by 17.3% year on year.
In late April 2025, the worst blackout Europe has ever seen in modern times, when Spain and Portugal were left without electricity for hours, was a wake-up call for the EU – and the rest of the world – that regardless of booming renewable energy capacity installations, power supply will not be secure unless grids are capable and flexible enough to accommodate clean energy and meet rising demand.
As a result of the outage, the share of combined-cycle generation in Spain soared as the grid operator hiked the use of gas power generation to help better control voltage, which was deemed to be the reason for the massive outage.
A preliminary report by an expert panel of the European network of electricity transmission system operators, ENTSO-E, found that excessive voltage was the driver behind the blackout.
“In 2025, the Spanish Gas System once again demonstrated its excellent performance and critical role in energy security, with 100% availability,” Enagas said in the earnings report today.
“During the blackout, the Gas System was key to restoring normality to the electricity system and confirmed the fundamental role of natural gas and gas infrastructure, with combined cycles playing an important part,” Enagas added, noting that “The gas system is also showing great resilience in the face of extreme weather events.”
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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