Spain is looking for answers on what caused a power outage

Two days after one of the worst breakdowns in Europe for decades have plunged tens of millions of people through Spain and Portugal in darkness until 6 p.m., officials from the two countries have emerged for long-standing meetings and gave little publicly non-annuation that they were closer to determining the cause.

“We collect thousands of data in the energy system to shed light on what happened,” said Sara Aages on Wednesday, one of the Vice-Presidents of Spain, at a press conference after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Spain, held two meetings with senior officials from Madrid. She added: “We do not know the cause, which is why the investigation is essential.”

Neither the Spanish government nor the Portuguese government has publicly published the cause of the power failure, which started on Monday afternoon, leaving hospitals running over generators, interrupted trains and closed supermarkets. Electricity was fully restored on Tuesday morning. Parties of France have also been briefly affected.

Wednesday morning, Mr. Sánchez met officials of the National Security Council, then at the Council of Ministers of Moncloa Palace, the Prime Minister’s residence in Madrid, to discuss the breakdown.

Pilar Alegría, spokesperson for the Spanish government, said at the press conference that Mr. Sánchez had set up a new committee to determine the cause and ensure that a power failure would not happen again. Portuguese officials also said that the cause was still unknown.

The incident raised questions about the question of whether the rapid passage from Spain and Portugal to renewable energies has left them more vulnerable to breakdowns. Ms. Agesen, the vice-president, who is also the minister who oversees the ecological transition of Spain, denied Wednesday that the power outage had a link with the rapid expansion of Spain in renewable energies.