Spain’s Electricity Grid Operator Rules Out Cyber Attack as Cause of Widespread Power Outage
Spain’s electricity grid operator, Red Eléctrica (RE), has concluded that a cyber attack was not the cause of the country’s widespread power outage earlier this week. The outage, which affected much of Spain and Portugal, left thousands of people stranded and caused widespread disruption to transport and communications.
According to Eduardo Prieto, operations director for RE, the grid company had consulted with Spain’s intelligence services and found no evidence of a cyber attack designed to bring down the network. "We have been able to conclude there was no intrusion in our electricity grid control system that could have caused the incident," Prieto said, stressing that the findings were preliminary.
The power outage occurred on Monday afternoon, with 15 gigawatts of power supply – equivalent to 60 per cent of nationwide demand – lost in only five seconds. The grid shut down, and interconnections with France and Morocco were lost. Power was largely restored in Portugal late on Monday and in Spain by Tuesday morning.
Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, said that private sector energy companies would be held accountable for any shortcomings. "What happened yesterday can never be allowed to happen again," he added. Sánchez also said that the country had overcome "a very difficult test", but added: "The crisis has not ended . . . We need to work with experts to see what the cause was."
Despite the preliminary finding of RE, an investigating judge, José Luis Calama, said he was opening a probe into a possible "computer sabotage" of the grid. The EU energy commissioner, Dan Jørgensen, said that the blackout was the most severe for almost two decades in Europe and that the bloc would carefully follow the situation.
The incident has raised concerns about the resilience of power networks as countries undergo a massive shift towards renewable power. Spain generates about 43 per cent of its power from wind and solar, but grid and storage capacity have not kept pace with the rapid development of renewable energy. Luís Montenegro, prime minister of Portugal, called for a "rapid investigation and urgent responses" into the incident.
The outage also caused widespread disruption to transport networks, with thousands of travellers spending the night in railway stations and sports centres around the country. Passengers were left stranded on a dozen trains until late into the night, and flight cancellations at Madrid and Barcelona airports were down sharply from Monday.
According to The Financial Times, Spain’s centre-right opposition leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, criticised Sánchez for a lack of communication over the crisis, saying the government was "still overwhelmed". Feijóo also attacked the government’s plan to phase out nuclear power from 2027, arguing it would leave the grid more vulnerable to fluctuations in renewable power generation.
The incident has highlighted the need for greater investment in grid infrastructure and storage capacity to ensure the reliable supply of renewable energy. As the European Union continues to push for a greater share of renewable energy in its energy mix, incidents like this will need to be carefully managed to avoid similar disruptions in the future.
In response to the incident, King Felipe chaired a meeting of Spain’s security council on Tuesday morning as authorities tried to restore some normality after declaring a state of emergency. The Spanish government has promised a full investigation into the cause of the outage and has pledged to work with experts to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The FT reported that an expert group from the EU would investigate the incident and make recommendations to improve resilience. This incident serves as a timely reminder of the importance of robust grid infrastructure and the need for continued investment in renewable energy technologies.
Source: The Financial Times
