A power surge that caused a widespread blackout in Spain and Portugal was the most severe in Europe in the last 20 years, and the first of its kind, a report has found.
Damian Cortinas, president of the electricity grid operators' association Entso-e, stated that this incident was the first known blackout caused by overvoltage, which occurs when there is excessive electrical voltage in a network. This is new territory, Cortinas remarked, emphasizing that the role of Entso-e is not to assign blame to any party regarding the cause.
April's outage significantly disrupted daily life, plunging large areas into darkness for nearly a day, disrupting internet and telephone communications, and halting transportation links. The blackout affected large parts of both nations and briefly stricken southwestern France as well.
The report, focusing on the condition of power systems during the outage and events leading to it, concluded that a series of cascading overvoltages were responsible for the incident. Overvoltage can result from surges due to oversupply, lightning strikes, or inadequate protective measures.
Despite automatic defense plans being activated, they could not prevent the power system from shutting down. Multiple investigations from the Spanish government, grid companies, and energy watchdogs are ongoing to ascertain the root causes.
Sara Aagesen, Spain's minister for ecological transition, stated that the findings align with previous investigations that identified both the national grid provider Red Eléctrica and private electricity companies as being at fault. However, these entities have denied responsibility, claiming that failures from certain power plants prevented voltage maintenance.
The outage has sparked discussions about the energy model in Spain, with some opposition figures claiming that an increased reliance on renewables has hampered energy stability. In contrast, the government refuted these theories, underscoring the report's neutral stance regarding the causes of the unprecedented blackout.
As Madrid Open Tennis organizers had to halt matches and emergency services were deployed across the city to assist those trapped in elevators, the blackout profoundly highlighted the vulnerabilities in the energy supply and the challenges ahead for energy policy in Spain and Portugal.