Posted by Eva Linares on Linked
on 10 March 2026,
Why anticipating electricity capacity is becoming a strategic priority
There’s a very common scenario when you’re travelling by car and decide not to book a hotel.
You want the freedom to choose as you go along, so you drive along calmly, thinking that when the time comes, you’ll find a room without any trouble.
It’s not peak season. There are no conferences. There are dozens of hotels.
So you book late. Or even on the day itself.
And when you arrive in the city… everything is full.
If you’re the sort who plans ahead, this has probably never happened to you.
But if you’ve ever improvised a trip, you know the feeling: stress, uncertainty and the uncomfortable question of what to do now.
Something similar is starting to happen with electricity.
And with energy cost optimisation too.
Energy is becoming about access, not just prices
For years, the energy conversation in companies has revolved around one question:
“At what price do we buy energy?”
But now another question is beginning to emerge, one that until recently seemed unlikely:
“Will there be capacity to connect us when we need it?”
According to data published by Red Eléctrica, only 25% of connection points on the transmission grid currently have available capacity for new demand.
In other words: three out of every four ‘sockets’ on the grid are already saturated.
And this doesn’t just affect new industries.
It affects expansions, new production facilities, data centres and urban developments.
And, of course, it could also affect your business.
A problem that almost no one sees
The electricity grid has a peculiarity.
When it starts to become saturated, you don’t notice it.
When it is saturated, you don’t notice it.
There are no visible queues.
There are no red lights.
There is no clear sign indicating that the system is reaching its limit.
And yet, the impact can be enormous.
You surely remember last year’s major blackout; it arrived without warning and faded from our memory. No one saw it coming.
According to energy analysts themselves, a grid collapse can delay the establishment of new industries or strategic investments for years.
In other words: the problem doesn’t show up on the bill.
It appears when your company wants to grow.
When energy ceases to be a purchasing item
In many management committees, energy is still treated as a purchasing department item.
The price is negotiated, the contract is signed, and the matter is filed away as ‘resolved’.
But when the infrastructure starts to become overloaded, that approach is no longer enough.
Because it is no longer just about how much energy costs.
It is about whether you will be able to access it when your business needs it.
And at that point, energy ceases to be an operational issue.
It becomes a strategic decision.
When everyone wants the same room
The problem isn’t a lack of electricity.
In fact, Spain is breaking records for renewable energy generation.
The real problem is this: whilst more and more energy is being produced, the grid that must transport it isn’t growing at the same pace.
By 2024, around 8% of the renewable energy generated was already being wasted, and by 2025 that figure had doubled.
Meanwhile, new industries wait years to get connected – that plug they need to start operating.
It’s like a city full of hotels… but with very few rooms available.
The difference between planning and being late
When you travel to a city hosting a major event, there are two types of travellers.
Those who book months in advance.
And those who turn up thinking that, somehow, they’ll find something.
In the energy sector, unfortunately, there are still many companies that operate like those second types of travellers.
Companies that anticipate what they will need in the future—whether new plants, expansions or process electrification—have more scope to secure that desired connection.
Those that wait until the last minute face a problem that does not depend on price.
It depends on the available capacity in the grid.
The questions a CEO should start asking
If your company relies on electricity to grow, to run processes or expand production, it might be worth starting to ask yourself some questions:
- Do we have the electrical capacity secured for our growth plans?
- Are we anticipating connection needs with sufficient margin?
- Are we treating energy as an operational risk or merely as a purchase?
- Do we know how a two- or three-year delay in a new connection would affect our business?
Because there is one thing that needs to be clear:
the electricity grid is not an unlimited resource.
The problem isn’t paying more for electricity
The strategic mistake rarely lies in paying a few cents more per kilowatt.
The real mistake is usually realising too late that there is no capacity available when your company needs to grow.
And then the problem is no longer the price.
The problem is that there is no socket.
And at that point, there is no choice but to wait for capacity to become available on the grid.
Something that can take years.
Planning ahead or relying on luck
By now, I am sure that your company does not want to rely on luck.
Companies that plan their grid access in advance have room for manoeuvre.
Those that don’t simply depend on the system’s availability.
Because managing costs is one thing.
And managing uncertainty is quite another.
If you’d like to analyse your company’s exposure to this problem and what options exist to anticipate it, we can look into it together.
Because in energy, getting there first often makes all the difference.
Thank you for reading another week.
Have a lovely day.
