Historic power outage in Spain and Portugal: cause still unclear

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After the worst power outage in Spain's history, the situation on the Iberian Peninsula is slowly returning to normal. More than 92 percent of the required electricity is now flowing again. This was announced by the electricity grid operator REE (Red Eléctrica de España) early Tuesday morning. At the same time, there is still no information on the cause of the historic event, only speculation in various directions. The daily newspaper El País reports that at 12:32 CET, 60 percent of the energy generated suddenly disappeared from the power grid. In other words, 15 gigawatts of electricity were lost within seconds. As a result, the entire power supply on the peninsula collapsed.

Rejoicing at the return of lighting

As a result of the power outage, the Spanish capital Madrid, for example, was largely cut off from the outside world for nine hours. When the lights came back on after dark, people cheered loudly in the streets, from windows and balconies. “Siii” (“Jaaa”) and “Vivaaa!” (“Hurrah”) were shouted from moving cars. (“Hurray”) were shouted from moving cars, while others enthusiastically sang “Y Viva España”. The Portuguese daily newspaper reports a similar story from the neighboring country and shows footage of people dancing in the capital, Lisbon. The power supply was restored there shortly before darkness fell.

Before that, the effects of the power cut were massive, with countless people stuck in subways and elevators, and the internet and telephone networks also not working. The railroad company Renfe evacuated more than 30,000 people from abandoned trains, reports the newspaper La Vanguardia. There were chaotic scenes on the streets because traffic lights were out of order. El País reports on a 37-year-old civilian who was directing traffic at a busy intersection in Barcelona. Stores were closed in rows and others could only be paid for with cash. Countless people were effectively unable to work, and the economic damage is likely to run into billions.

Speculation about the cause

So far, there is only speculation about the cause of the power outage, but there is consensus that it originated in Spain. Several media outlets have quoted the Portuguese electricity grid operator REN (Redes Energéticas Nacionais) as claiming that a rare meteorological phenomenon in the heart of Spain was responsible. Extreme temperature fluctuations had triggered anomalous oscillations in the high-voltage lines, the Guardian quotes, adding that this is known as “induced atmospheric oscillation”. The subsequent synchronization disturbances between the power grids would then have triggered the catastrophic consequences.

However, a cyberattack is also being considered as the cause, although experts believe this would have been extremely complicated. According to El País, an initial assessment in this direction came from the Prime Minister of Andalusia, who later admitted that he had not spoken to any institution about it beforehand. Meanwhile, the EU Commission said that there were no indications that the power outage had been caused deliberately. INCIBE, the authority responsible for cybersecurity, had begun an investigation into the matter. The Ministry of Defense is also conducting such an analysis.

Comparable events in Germany unlikely

According to the Federal Network Agency, a comparably massive power outage is unlikely. “A large-scale, long-lasting blackout is unlikely in Germany,” the news agency dpa quoted the agency as saying. The power grid in Germany is designed to be redundant. This means that the failure of one line would be absorbed by another line. The head of the grid agency, Klaus Müller, also said in the Tagesschau that “just in case, we have power plants, so-called black start-capable power plants, which could rebuild such a grid”. “This means that Germany is well-prepared,” he finally assured. But that doesn't apply to the people, Germany's insurance industry said in 2022.

(mho)