August 9, 2026

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August 9, 2026

Newsletter

The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • Strategic Insight

LATEST
New EU Gas Market Rules Take Effect With Consumer SafeguardsDeforestation Regulation Holds Its December Deadline Despite CutsDigital Omnibus Delays Europe’s High-Risk AI Deadline to 2027Europe’s Schools Confront a Widening Basic Skills GapRule of Law Report Finds Progress but Trust Still LagsIRIS2 Gains 66 Satellites as Brussels Signs the Rollout DealNature Restoration Plans Come Due as Member States Race a DeadlineECB Rates Hold at 2.25 Percent as Frankfurt Waits on the DataEU Budget Talks Turn to Cohesion as Ireland Takes OverWildfire Response Stretches Europe’s Emergency Fleet ThinCan Europe’s Quantum Plan Match Its Big Ambitions?Armenia Edges West as Moscow’s Grip Slips AwayEurope Inherits the World’s Aid Bill It Cannot Fully PayAir Passenger Rights Get Their First Overhaul in Two DecadesErasmus Opens a 5 Billion Euro Round for Skills and MobilityCeuta Crisis Pushes the EU Toward Faster Migrant ReturnsBulky Parcels Face a Packaging Crackdown From August 12Can Europe Build Its Drone Wall Before 2030 Arrives?Indonesia’s Trade Deal With Europe Nears Its Final SignatureEurope Leans on Beijing to Keep Climate Talks Alive Before AntalyaNew EU Gas Market Rules Take Effect With Consumer SafeguardsDeforestation Regulation Holds Its December Deadline Despite CutsDigital Omnibus Delays Europe’s High-Risk AI Deadline to 2027Europe’s Schools Confront a Widening Basic Skills GapRule of Law Report Finds Progress but Trust Still LagsIRIS2 Gains 66 Satellites as Brussels Signs the Rollout DealNature Restoration Plans Come Due as Member States Race a DeadlineECB Rates Hold at 2.25 Percent as Frankfurt Waits on the DataEU Budget Talks Turn to Cohesion as Ireland Takes OverWildfire Response Stretches Europe’s Emergency Fleet ThinCan Europe’s Quantum Plan Match Its Big Ambitions?Armenia Edges West as Moscow’s Grip Slips AwayEurope Inherits the World’s Aid Bill It Cannot Fully PayAir Passenger Rights Get Their First Overhaul in Two DecadesErasmus Opens a 5 Billion Euro Round for Skills and MobilityCeuta Crisis Pushes the EU Toward Faster Migrant ReturnsBulky Parcels Face a Packaging Crackdown From August 12Can Europe Build Its Drone Wall Before 2030 Arrives?Indonesia’s Trade Deal With Europe Nears Its Final SignatureEurope Leans on Beijing to Keep Climate Talks Alive Before Antalya

Spain and Portugal Switch On New Cross-Border Power Link

Maya Plisetskaya
Institutional Affairs Reporter, Energy and Climate

Arbo: Spain and Portugal on 2 July 2026 inaugurated a new cross-border electricity interconnection that adds 1,000 MW of capacity between the two countries, a project the European Commission welcomed as a step toward a more integrated EU power market. The new Spain-Portugal electricity interconnection, built by grid operators Red Eléctrica and REN, was switched on at a ceremony in Arbo, in Spain's Galicia region.

A bigger link across the Iberian border

The 400 kV line raises transfer capacity to 4,200 MW from Spain to Portugal and 3,500 MW in the opposite direction. Operators say it will let more renewable power flow across the border and strengthen the resilience of both national grids.

The project is expected to deliver measurable benefits each year:

  • An additional 281 GWh of renewable electricity integrated annually
  • A reduction of about 113,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year
  • 1,000 MW of extra cross-border capacity in each direction

Commission welcomes the connection

Dan Jørgensen, the EU Commissioner for Energy and Housing, said the new Spain-Portugal electricity interconnection was exactly the kind of infrastructure Europe needs to lower prices and absorb more clean power.

“I very much welcome the inauguration of this key energy link between Spain and Portugal. Cross-border electricity interconnectors are key to integrate more renewables in our system and therefore lower energy prices. A stronger European Union must be based on a strong internal electricity market,” he said.

Why interconnectors matter

The Iberian peninsula has long been one of the least connected corners of the EU grid, leaving Spain and Portugal partly isolated from the rest of the continental system. Both governments have repeatedly pressed Brussels for a firmer commitment to building interconnections, arguing that better links are essential to share renewable output and stabilise supply.

Stronger connections also help the wider bloc meet its goal of a single, well-integrated electricity market in which power can move to where it is needed most, tempering price spikes and reducing reliance on fossil-fuel back-up.

The need for firmer grid links was underlined earlier this year, when a large-scale power outage swept across the Iberian peninsula and exposed how vulnerable a poorly connected system can be to sudden disruption. Officials in Madrid and Lisbon have since argued that deeper integration with the rest of Europe is a matter of energy security as much as of climate policy.

Background

The EU has set a target for every member state to be able to exchange at least 15% of its electricity production across borders by 2030, but several countries, including Spain, remain below that level. The inauguration, attended by Spanish and Portuguese officials and representatives of the European Commission, is part of a broader Energy Union push to expand grids, add renewables and cut the cost of electricity for households and industry.

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