Spain and Portugal fell into darkness Monday due to a huge electricity blackout that suspended public transportation systems, lights traffic, hospitals, manufacturing, and nuclear power plants.
The massive outage stretched from Madrid to Lisbon, large parts of the Iberian Peninsula reported having no power as early as Monday noon.
The blackout occurred due to a “very strong oscillation in the electrical network” that made Spain power system “disconnect from the European system and collapse Iberian electricity network” at 12:38, said Eduardo Prieto, head of Spanish transmission system operator Red Eléctrica.
Prieto has been cagey as to what caused the upsurge in voltage and would not confirm whether or not a cyberattack could have contributed to the blackout. He added that while some parts of the country had their electricity flow reestablished, complete service restoration would take between six and 10 hours throughout the rest of the country.
“At the moment there is nothing that allows us to say that there is any kind of sabotage or cyberattack,” said Teresa Ribera, European Commission Executive Vice-President and former high minister in the Spanish government.
“And obviously we are working with the utmost caution and we will have to continue investigating to determine what are the specific causes that have generated this incident, which is one of the most serious that have been recorded in Europe for a long time,” Ribera added.
Spain and Portugal have a very integrated energy grid that functions as an energy island and interconnects with the rest of Europe through a handful of borders connecting with France.
For years, the European Commission has been calling for the countries’ energy systems to be better integrated, but while Madrid, Lisbon, and Paris routinely signaled their will for this, progress has been slow in coming.
Portugal’s E-Redes operator said that the blackout was due to a “problem in the European power grid,” with data accumulated after the power failure suggesting that a voltage imbalance caused the collapse.
There appears to be an issue with the imbalance occasioned “due to a problem in Spain’s transportation network, the details of which have not been exactly identified,” Portuguese Presidency Minister António Leitão Amaro conveyed to Lusa.
Spain’s stance on not taking sides in the war between Israel and Gaza, coupled with its support for Ukraine against the Russian aggression, has become one of the most appealing causes for cyberattack. The blackout is under investigation by the Joint Cyberspace Command, which reports to the Defense Staff and coordinates cybersecurity, along with the National Cryptologic Center.
Minor incidents, such as a few moments of disruption to the national grid systems of which Italy suffered in 2003, could cause major power outages across Europe. The above situation led to the complete blackout of Italy after a tree disabled a power line in Switzerland.
Two countries went into darkness: Spain and Portugal
It lit up and turned off the traffic lights as power was disconnected, and the metro systems in both Spain and Portugal were disrupted. Some people were trapped as it was cutting. A lot of people were stuck in elevators, and some dark shops started begging that clients pay in cash.
During the Madrid Open tennis tournament, some matches were suspended, and electricity was cut off from thousands of fans flocked to the venue. According to site organizers, they are working on “restoring normality as soon as possible.”
Even though there was widespread chaos everywhere, the Spanish Stock Exchange stated that it was still in full business operation and trading, although some of its most important traders were linked by only a few connections that were turned off due to the cyberattack.
While both hospitals were self-sufficient, authorities asked staff to do simple things like turn off their computers and conserve power in whatever manner possible while the blackout lasted. Spaniards were also urged not to call emergency numbers unless it was absolutely necessary as the centers were simply overloaded with inquiries.
Some enjoyed the extra time off, while others tried to lighten the mood with jokes amid confusion and lack of information. Occasionally, in the streets of Barcelona, some people were happy that they had been sent home prematurely from work.
“One of those 72-hour kits probably should have been prepared,” joked a middle-aged lady on the bus, alluding to the recently proposed emergency stockpile by the European Commission.
“Is this a cyber attack? A terrorism activity?” asked a university student leaving the university.
Management directed all staff and students at one of the largest universities in Barcelona to go home, warning, according to an internal e-mail seen by POLITICO, that” if the incident is not resolved, we cannot assure the functioning of the electric devices or the emergency lights. “
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has convened a crisis meeting at the Electricity Grid Control Center of the country to define the steps that will be followed at the national level in response to the blackout.
In Brussels, a spokesperson for the European Commission confirmed that it was “in contact with the national authorities of Spain and Portugal and with ENTSO-E (the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity) to understand the underlying cause and impact of the situation.”
Spain’s government has convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, which is tasked with overseeing national security, to analyze the situation this afternoon.
In Portugal, the blackout affected mainly the capital city of Lisbon and its surrounding areas as well as parts of the north and south of the country. It was stated by the government that the incident originated from issues abroad.
“It looks as if it was a problem with the distribution network, apparently in Spain,” reported that cabinet minister, António Leitão Amaro, to national news agency Lusa. The metro carriages in Lisbon were evacuated, ATMs and clearing of electronic payment systems cut off.
Otherwise, traffic lights were faulting in Madrid and other cities restricting traffic in a mop up without accidents, while metros were put off. The country’s national road authority, DGT, requested that motorists should avoid movement on the roads as much as possible.
Apparently, El País newspaper capitalized on the moment and uploaded various photos and videos on its website of passengers passing in the pitch darkness through the metro tunnels in the Spanish capital as well as of police directing vehicles on the streets of the city. Those footages also showed its own reporters working by torchlight.
The Spanish health ministry said in an update on social media that it was in contact with regional authorities to assess the extent of the blackout across the region but calmed the public by saying that hospitals had backup systems.
A graph from Spain’s electricity network website showing demand all over the country noted a steep decline around 12:15 PM, from 27,500 MW to almost 15,000 MW.
The European Commission said it was working with the authorities of Spain and Portugal to understand the underlying reason for the blackout. Its president, Ursula von der Leyen, said she had spoken with Sánchez, and the EU executive would coordinate efforts and share information to help restore power.
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