> Their "free market" real time power auction makes no allowances for long term concerns like reliability

Blaming the "free market" is an ignorant kneejerk reaction.

There is a whole discipline revolving around designing the incentives for electricity markets - countries pay for consultants from companies like NERA Economic Consulting to create or improve their electricity markets to achieve the goals needed by that country.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=wholesale+electricity+market+desig...

The problem is that wholesale electricity markets need to be designed so that the incentives of the market participants are aligned with desired outcomes. Use game theory so that selfish participants are rewarded for good outcomes in the market, and are penalized for bad outcomes in the market.

When there is a failure (e.g. Spain) the responsibility lies at the feet of the regulators.

Unfortunately after a failure we all want to blame someone, and it is easiest to blame the market participants or the market.

Read how Enron manipulated the market to the detriment of California and its residents. The answer isn't to Blame Enron. Blame the people that set up shitty incentives.

The big issue is ensuring that large generators/retailers don't twist the market rules to their advantage or obtain regulatory capture. The large players tend to have a knowledge advantage and are very experienced at manipulating their regulatory authorities.