Spain Power Outage: Sánchez Investigates Cause
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pledged on Tuesday to investigate the unprecedented power outage that left much of the Iberian Peninsula without electricity on Monday, as energy operators in Spain and Portugal dismissed the possibility of a cyberattack.
The blackout plunged cities into darkness, stranded tens of thousands of train passengers, and may have contributed to at least five deaths in Spain. A family of three in the country’s northwest died from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning after using a generator, while a woman in Valencia perished when her oxygen machine failed. Another woman in Madrid died in a fire sparked by a candle.
Speaking after power was restored, Sánchez acknowledged that the exact cause remained unclear but vowed to implement reforms to prevent future large-scale outages.
“What happened yesterday cannot happen again,” he said, announcing a commission to examine the incident, including the role of private energy companies. His administration would “get to the bottom of this matter,” he added, ensuring necessary measures are taken.
Portugal’s Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said his government would request an independent audit by the EU’s Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators to determine the cause.
No Evidence of Cyberattack, But Investigations Continue
Despite energy providers in both countries ruling out a cyberattack, Sánchez stressed that “no hypothesis” had been dismissed. Spain’s Audiencia Nacional court later opened an inquiry into whether the outage resulted from “computer sabotage” against critical infrastructure, with a judge citing cyberterrorism as a possible explanation.
However, Red Eléctrica, Spain’s grid operator, stated that preliminary findings excluded a cybersecurity breach. Eduardo Prieto, the operator’s services chief, attributed the outage to two rapid “generation disconnection” events in southwestern Spain—a key solar energy hub—that overwhelmed the system.
Portugal’s government also found no signs of a hostile act, with a spokesperson telling CNN Portugal that the issue appeared to stem from Spain’s transmission network.
By Tuesday morning, power had been fully restored in both countries. Spain’s meteorological agency ruled out extreme weather as a factor, while Portugal’s REN denied circulating a social media claim blaming a “rare atmospheric phenomenon.”
Transport Disruptions and Lingering Fallout
Spain’s airports resumed operations, though travelers were advised to check for delays. The rail network, severely affected by the outage, saw gradual recovery, but regional services in Murcia, Extremadura, and Andalucía remained suspended. Approximately 35,000 passengers were evacuated from over 100 trains on Monday.
The Madrid Open tennis tournament resumed after 22 postponed matches, while emergency shelters housed stranded commuters overnight. In Madrid’s Atocha station, hundreds waited for updates, some wrapped in Red Cross blankets.
Widespread blackouts are rare in Europe. Previous incidents include a 2003 outage caused by a faulty Italy-Switzerland power line and a 2006 grid overload in Germany that affected several nations.
Authorities have yet to explain why Spain lost 15 gigawatts—60% of national demand—in five seconds. As investigations continue, Sánchez emphasized restoring stability and preventing future crises, dismissing claims linking the outage to nuclear phase-out plans as “ignorant or dishonest.”
The European Commission’s Teresa Ribera also rejected sabotage theories, while Spain’s cybersecurity center found no signs of malicious interference. With isolated disruptions persisting, the full scope of the outage’s impact remains under scrutiny.