What is the SRAD and why Red Eléctrica has activated it about ten times this year

Active Demand Response Service (SRAD) allows Electricity Network (REE), as a system operator, to ask large consumers to reduce their consumption when they need it to ensure supply. According to the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC), it is “a voluntary and paid service”: participants charge for being available and, in addition, every time they are asked to reduce. It has been in operation since 2022 and is mainly used by electrointensive industries. For the first half of 2026, REE awarded 1,725 MW in auction, according to Renewable Energy.

REE activates it when it considers that the available generation is not enough to cover demand with the necessary reserve margin, according to Renewables. The warning comes at least 12.5 minutes in advance and each participant can reduce their consumption by a maximum of two hours a day, according to the rules approved by the CNMC in November 2025. It’s not a supply cut: the industry that joins stops consuming during that time in exchange for compensation.

This year has been much more active than before, although the accounts vary according to the average. Energy News had nine activations on October 7 in 2026, compared to four in 2024 and none in 2025; Digital Freedom spoke on the same day of ten, and Xataka of eleven on October 30. On October 6, two reductions were requested with about 18 minutes of difference, of 843 MW and of 1,775 MW, according to Energy News.

The reasons that cite these media are conjunctural: the high unavailability of thermal power plants and low renewable production in hours without sun and with little wind, according to sources quoted by Liberty Digital; in July, heat waves, less wind than planned and a nuclear power plant stopped, according to Catalunya Press. According to Xataka, who quotes The Economist, up to 35% of the installed combined cycle power has been out of service since the summer.

In that context, REE did not agree to the maintenance plans of more than 100 nuclear, combined-cycle and pumping power plants for the period from October 2026 to September 2027, according to Five Days quoted by Xataka. REE cannot impose other dates, and the power plants maintain their calendar, according to Xataka; The Objective notes that nuclear stops follow a fixed calendar and that REE has asked above all to delay the maintenance of the combined cycles.

What is not known: REE has not publicly detailed the reason for each activation nor has it published its valuation of the system margin this winter. According to Xataka, REE has discarded "tightly" a new shutdown; the activation of the SRAD indicates that the margin was narrow at that time, not that a shutdown was imminent.