A spokesperson for the Spanish government told Politico that “at 12:33 pm, 15 gigawatts of the energy produced (in Spain) suddenly disappeared and remained missing for five seconds.”
They added that the amount of electricity that suddenly disappeared from Power Grid was equivalent to 60% of the total consumed at that time.
The sudden drop in available power has destabilized the Spain’s electricity network, which is highly integrated into that of Portugal and linked to the rest of Europe through a small number of cross -border interconnections with France.
Eduardo Pieto, director of the operator of the Spanish transmission system, Red Eléctrica, said on Monday that the power failure had been caused by a “very strong oscillation in the electrical network” which led the Spanish food system to “disconnect from the European system and the collapse of the Iberian electricity network at 12:38”.
The situation, which affected public transport networks, traffic lights, hospitals and payment systems, is unprecedented.
The opposition of Spain to the War of Israel in Gaza and its support for Ukraine against the aggression of Russia made it a major target for cyberattacks, and throughout the day, there were increased speculations according to which the crisis could be the result of a harmful action. The joint command of cyberspace, which is the defense staff and oversees cybersecurity, and the National Cryptologic Center, both launched surveys on the power failure.
Politices
