Spain: April power outage due to grid failure, not cyber attack

Spain: April power outage due to grid failure, not cyber attack

On Tuesday the Spanish government announced that the massive power outage in April, which cut off power to tens of thousands of people in Spain and Portugal within seconds, was caused by technical and planning errors. These deficiencies left the power grid unable to handle a sudden increase in voltage.

Causes of power failure

Ecological Transition Minister Sara Aagesen, who is responsible for the country's energy policy, told reporters that a voltage spike led to small outages in the power grid, particularly in southern Spain. These small outages quickly escalated and eventually led to a widespread system failure in both Iberian countries.

No signs of a cyber attack

Aagesen ruled out that the outage was due to a cyber attack. The blackout began shortly after midday on April 28 in Spain and lasted until after dark. It led to significant disruptions Companies, transport systems, mobile networks, internet connections and other critical infrastructure. Spain lost 15 gigawatts of electricity, about 60% of its electricity supply. Portugal, whose power grid is connected to Spain's, also failed. Only the island areas of both countries were spared.

Rapid outage escalation

“The whole thing happened in 12 seconds, with most of the power loss occurring in just five seconds,” Aagesen said. Several technical causes contributed to this incident, including “poor planning” by Spanish grid operator Red Eléctrica, which failed to find a replacement power plant that should have helped smooth out power fluctuations. Some power plants that were shut down as a precaution when the disruptions began could have remained online to stabilize the system.

Power restoration

Power was fully restored in the early hours of the following day. The government's report will be published later on Tuesday - 49 days after the incident - and will include analysis from Spain's national security agencies, which the minister said found no evidence of targeted cyber sabotage by foreign actors.

Public discussion about the causes

In the weeks following the blackout, citizens and experts were uncertain about the causes of the event in a region not known for power outages. The incident sparked a heated debate over whether Spain's high levels of renewable energy and inadequate energy production from nuclear or gas-fired power plants could have had anything to do with the failure of the power grid, but the government repeatedly denied this.

Commitment to renewable energy

Spain is at the forefront of Europe's renewable energy transition, producing nearly 57% of its electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind, hydro and solar in 2024. The country also plans to gradually shut down its nuclear power plants.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez rejected such speculation and defended the country's rapid expansion of renewable energy. He asked for patience and stressed that his government would not deviate "one millimeter" from the energy transformation plans, which aim to generate 81% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030.