Soto de Ribera

Soto de Ribera is a combined-cycle gas-fired power plant located in Asturias, in northwestern Spain, operated by EDP España. The plant has a capacity of approximately 825 MW across three combined-cycle groups and serves as one of EDP's principal thermal generation assets in the Spanish electricity market. In the context of the April 2025 Iberian blackout investigation, EDP stated that Soto de Ribera "was not even scheduled to be operating" at the time the blackout occurred, forming the basis of EDP's denial of any causal responsibility .

The Soto de Ribera plant began operations in the 1990s and has been progressively expanded and upgraded with combined-cycle units. Asturias, a former coal-mining region in northern Spain, has transitioned towards gas-fired generation as part of Spain's coal phase-out programme. The plant connects to Spain's transmission grid and its despatch status on any given day determines whether it contributes to frequency regulation and reserve capacity.

Soto de Ribera's alleged offline status at the time of the April 2025 blackout is central to EDP's legal position before CNMC. Grid despatch logs, which are retained and auditable, will determine whether the plant's non-operation exacerbated the blackout cascade or whether EDP's denial holds. CNMC's 9-18 month proceedings will include review of the historical despatch records for every named generation asset, including Soto de Ribera.