<h6><strong>Ane Barcos</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The President of the Government, <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Pedro Sánchez, urged this Monday that "no speculation" about the causes of the power outage that has affected the entire Iberian Peninsula and parts of southern France.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">"There is still no conclusive information on the reasons for this outage," he stated after chairing an urgently convened meeting of the National Security Council.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Later, the president assured, in his second appearance, that "no hypothesis" regarding the cause of the blackout has been ruled out.</span></span></strong></h4> In his first appearance, Sánchez explained that the outage was due to "a strong fluctuation in the European electricity system" that caused a power outage in large areas of Spain and Portugal. He stated that, following the incident, Red Eléctrica activated its security protocols and the government formally declared an "electricity crisis," as provided for in the electricity system risk plan. Regarding the causes, Sánchez urged caution: "We still do not have conclusive information on the reasons for this outage." In this regard, he urged citizens not to speculate and to follow only "official information" to prevent the spread of hoaxes. "We know full well that these crises are conducive to misinformation, which only instills unrest in the public," he warned. The president reported that the government is in constant communication "with the head of state, His Majesty the King, with the various parliamentary groups, our European partners, the EU institutions, and NATO." In his subsequent appearance before the media after the second meeting of the National Security Council, Pedro Sánchez announced that the restoration of 50 percent of the national electricity supply was possible thanks to "the interconnections with France and Morocco, the combined gas cycles, and the hydroelectric plants." Regarding the causes, the president explained that, according to Red Eléctrica technicians, at 12:33 p.m., 15 gigawatts of generation—equivalent to approximately 60% of the country's demand at the time—were suddenly lost from the system, and did so in just five seconds, something that "had never happened before." "Specialists have not yet been able to determine what caused this sudden loss of supply, but they will," he stated. "The competent state institutions and all private operators are working in a coordinated manner to understand what happened, and all potential causes are being analyzed, without ruling out any hypothesis or possibility," he warned. The blackout, which began around 12:30 p.m., has caused widespread power outages across much of the Iberian Peninsula, affecting essential services such as rail traffic, public transport, airports, and traffic light networks. It has also forced restrictions on the use of electronic payment methods in some areas. The Directorate General of Traffic has recommended avoiding travel while work is being done to restore power. According to Red Eléctrica, the Iberian system suffered a "zero" power outage, which forced the activation of supply restoration plans. Recovery began shortly afterward in the north and south of the Iberian Peninsula, and according to the company's own estimates, full normalization could take between six and ten hours. The blackout has not affected either the Canary Islands or the Balearic Islands. <h5><strong>Ribera rules out that the blackout was caused by a boycott or cyberattack</strong></h5> Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice President of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, has ruled out that the incident was caused by a boycott or cyberattack. "At the moment, there is no evidence that allows us to confirm that there has been any type of boycott or cyberattack. Of course, we are working with the utmost caution, and further investigation is necessary to determine the exact causes of this episode, which is one of the most serious recorded in Europe in recent times," Ribera stated. The Vice President emphasized that, although the existence of an extraordinary disruption cannot be confirmed, the priority at this time is the recovery of the electrical system. "What is certain is that, at this time, the main priority is the gradual recovery of the system. Portugal disconnected its electrical system from the Spanish system in order to gradually restore supply, while in Spain, recovery is being carried out through hydroelectric and, in some cases, thermal generation, which will allow the load on the electrical system to be quickly recovered," Ribera explained. <h5><strong>France offers electricity aid to Spain</strong></h5> The French electricity grid operator, RTE, activated its assistance plan to help restore power supply in Spain after the blackout that affected the Iberian Peninsula. According to its statement, the electrical incident affecting Spain and Portugal is still under investigation, but RTE assures that the French electricity system is completely safe and there is no risk of contagion to France. The Iberian grid was automatically disconnected from the European system between 12:38 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to prevent further damage, but at 1:30 p.m. the 400 kV power line connecting French and Spanish Catalonia was restored, allowing the grid to be reconnected.
