Spain Blames Planning Missteps and Technical Problems for Huge Power Outage
Almost two months after tens of millions of people across the Iberian Peninsula lost power, the government said in a report released Tuesday that it had ruled out a cyberattack as the cause. It largely blamed the national grid operator and private companies for what it said were failures to respond to a surge in voltage that led to small problems in the grid that then snowballed.
The state power company, Red Eléctrica, countered the report on Wednesday, saying that it took reasonable measures to respond to the problems and was not to blame for the disruption.
The report is Spain's first major public analysis — and likely last — over what caused an outage that prompted huge disruptions to daily life, stopping trains for hours, shutting down traffic lights and stalling elevators.
European Union officials, experts and the power company had said at the time that a cyberattack was unlikely, but Spanish officials said they could not rule it out. The government had asked European regulators and various domestic agencies to investigate what happened.
Presenting the government's report on Tuesday, Sara Aagesen, Spain's minister of ecological transition, said that the grid had failed to respond after a series of unusual voltage variations on April 28.
A power plant that could have helped the Spanish grid manage the disruptions on the day of the outage was offline, as were other parts of Spain's electrical infrastructure, said Ms. Aagesen, who manages Spain's energy policy.
Red Eléctrica had received warnings that something was awry but failed to respond adequately, she said.
The day after the power failure, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that he expected answers within 'hours or days' amid widespread outrage over the extent of the outage. Many Spaniards have grown frustrated over the wait for answers.
Ms. Aagesen told reporters that Spain's system still needs significant improvements but that the country was working to strengthen measures to protect the grid.
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