Voltage surge caused power cut that plunged Spain and Portugal into darkness
Environment Minister Sara Aagesen, who manages the nation's energy policy, told reporters that a voltage surge led to small grid failures, mainly in the south of Spain, which then cascaded to larger ones and brought the system down in both countries.
She ruled out that the failure was due to a cyberattack.
On April 28, around 60% of Spain's electricity was lost in the major blackout, disrupting businesses, transport systems, mobile networks, internet connectivity and other critical infrastructure. Portugal, whose grid is connected to Spain's, also went down.
'All of this happened in 12 seconds, with most of the power loss happening in just five seconds,' Aagesen said.
Several technical causes contributed to the event, including 'poor planning' by Spain's grid operator Red Eléctrica, which didn't find a replacement for one power plant that was supposed to help balance power fluctuations, the minister said.
She also said that some power plants that utilities shut off preventively when the disruptions started could have stayed online to help manage the system.
The Red Eléctrica is yet to respond to the government's claims.
The blackout caused a national emergency in Spain as a day of widespread disruption saw cities gridlocked, commuters trapped inside trains and flights grounded.
There were also reports of medical services implementing emergency plans to mitigate the impact on the healthcare system.
Sports events were also cancelled, businesses were forced shut and people were seen queuing at cash machines to access funds.
Power was fully restored by the early hours of the following day.
In the weeks following the blackout, the outage ignited a fierce debate about whether Spain's high levels of renewable power and not enough energy generated from nuclear or gas-fired power plants had something to do with the grid failing, which the government has repeatedly denied.
Spain is at the forefront of Europe's transition to renewable energy, having generated nearly 57% of its electricity in 2024 from renewable energy sources like wind, hydropower and solar. The country is also phasing out its nuclear plants.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pushed back against such speculation and defended the country's rapid ramping up of renewables. He asked for patience and said that his government would not 'deviate a single millimeter' from its energy transition plans, which include a goal of generating 81% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
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