On Tuesday, the Spanish government said that technical and planning mistakes that prevented the grid from handling a spike in voltage were the reason for the major April power outage that affected tens of millions of people in Spain and Portugal and left them without power for just a few seconds.
The country’s energy policy manager, Ecological Transition Minister Sara Aagesen, told reporters that a voltage spike caused minor grid outages, mostly in the southern part of Spain, which spread to bigger ones and knocked down the system throughout the two countries of the Iberian Peninsula. She rejected the idea that a cyberattack was the cause of the failure.
Businesses, transit systems, cellular networks, internet access, and other vital infrastructure were all affected by the outage, which started in Spain just after midday on April 28 and continued until dark. About 60% of Spain’s electrical supply, or 15 gigawatts, was destroyed.
Portugal’s grid, which is linked to Spain’s, also failed. The island territories of the nations were the only ones saved.
“All of this happened in 12 seconds, with most of the power loss happening in just five seconds,” Aagesen said.
According to the minister, a number of technical factors led to the incident, including “poor planning” on the part of Spain’s grid operator Red Electrica, which failed to identify a substitute for one power plant that was meant to assist balance power swings.
She added that some power units could have remained online to aid in system management even if utilities had shut them down in advance of the outages. By the morning of the next day, power was restored.
Later on Tuesday, 49 days after the incident, the government will issue its assessment, which includes analysis from Spain’s national security agencies. The minister stated that the agencies found no evidence of foreign actors engaging in cyber-sabotage.
Three southern Spanish power facilities that tripped were previously identified by the government as the cause of the outage.
In a region that is not accustomed to power outages, residents and experts were left wondering what caused the blackout in the weeks that followed.
The interruption sparked a heated discussion regarding whether Spain’s high renewable energy levels and low nuclear or gas-fired power plant energy production contributed to the grid failure, a claim the government has always refuted.
With approximately 57% of its electricity coming from renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and hydropower in 2024, Spain is leading the way in Europe’s shift to renewable energy. Additionally, the nation is retiring its nuclear power plants.
Pedro Sànchez, the prime minister of Spain, denied such rumours and praised the nation’s quick increase in renewable energy.
