One year after the Iberian blackout of 28 April, 2025, the Technical Advisory Group (GAT) created by Portugal’s Minister for Environment and Energy has published its final report. Among the ten specialists and academics who contributed to its conclusions are Pedro Carvalho and Jorge Sousa, INESC-ID researchers and Professors at Instituto Superior Técnico.

The group’s central finding is that Portugal’s national electricity system currently presents considerable levels of security and robustness, while sustained investment, development, and innovation remain essential in a sector that is increasingly decentralised, integrated, and complex. The report recommends six priority domains of intervention: governance and regulation, planning model, system architecture, generation requirements and grid components, digitalisation and monitoring, and market solutions and system services. It also recommends greater flexibility in planning and investment, simplification of decision-making, reinforcement of the State’s technical capacity, and clarification of institutional competences between the government, ERSE (Energy Services Regulatory Authority), and the transmission grid operator.

In its main conclusions, the report highlights that the existing framework was designed for a centralised, low-digital system, and that adapting it to a more decentralised, interconnected, and digital reality must now be a priority, including stronger Iberian and European cooperation.

INESC-ID researchers’ involvement in the GAT reflects our institute’s recognised expertise in energy systems and increasing contributions in policy making. Pedro Carvalho’s work on this topic was covered in depth in a September 2025 article: “After the lights went out: MIT and INESC-ID researchers team up to prevent the next blackout.”

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