SPAIN AND PORTUGAL BLACKOUT: HOW TECHNICIANS RESTORED POWER

The state of emergency was lifted across Spain and Portugal on Tuesday, with the exception of Valencia, as the Iberian Peninsula began recovering power after Monday's unprecedented outage.

According to data from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E), the blackout affected Spain, Portugal, and parts of France shortly after midday on Monday. On Tuesday morning, Dan Jorgensen, European Commissioner for Energy and Housing, stated on X that the energy situation in Spain and Portugal had returned to normal, highlighting that this incident was "the most severe in nearly two decades in Europe."

"Suddenly There Was a Flurry of Alarms"

"The transmission network is the 'backbone' of a country's electrical system," explained Spanish grid operator Red Eléctrica. This is because it connects power generation stations to large consumers, distribution points, and other national energy producers. The network is essential for transmitting energy created by power plants efficiently and safely.

The Spanish transmission grid boasts over 45,000 km of high-voltage lines, more than 700 substations, 600 bays, and over 200 transformers. The Portuguese grid, though smaller, has 9,661 km of circuits, with approximately 77 percent of the energy produced on Tuesday coming from renewable sources like solar and wind, according to data from Portuguese energy company Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN).

Paul Cuffe, an assistant professor of electrical and electronic engineering at University College Dublin (UCD), noted that power grids are often synchronized or interconnected, meaning that if "something unpleasant were to happen to the generator in Madrid," Euronews Next reported, "it could be immediately felt in Barcelona or Lisbon."

System operators controlling the power grid strive to maintain a balance between the amount of energy supplied to the grid and the amount consumed. To achieve this balance, operators typically maintain a frequency of around 50 hertz. This value can be slightly increased or decreased without risking a blackout.

The Iberian grid failure likely occurred rapidly and unexpectedly. "Suddenly, several alarms went off," Cuffe recounted. "An operator, surprised, looked at the monitor, where nothing unusual had been seen for five years. And he asked himself: what is happening?"

"If something abnormal were to happen to the generator in Madrid, the effects would be immediately felt in Barcelona or Lisbon."

Paul Cuffe Associate Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at UCD (University College Dublin)

A Balancing Act of Energy Sources

After a blackout, the challenge of getting the grid back online begins. A spokesperson for Eurelectric, the industry association representing the European energy industry, stated that the grid must perform a "black start," which involves using "generation plants that do not require grid electricity to start up" to restore power.

In the case of the Iberian blackout, the association's spokesperson continued, this was achieved through hydroelectric power, but it can also be done with diesel or gas. Electricity produced from these alternative sources is then fed into the grid and used to bring essential services, like hospitals or defense sites, back online. From there, power is "slowly ramped up" and "carefully balanced against the additional demand being put into the system," Eurelectric added. "If the balancing is not almost perfect, it can cause another outage."

The Role of Renewables

In 2024, Red Eléctrica announced that 56 percent of Spain's energy would be produced from renewables. On April 16 of this year, the grid operator also confirmed it had achieved 100 percent renewable energy supply. On Tuesday, REN data showed that at 6:00 PM local time, 77 percent of the energy generated in Portugal came from renewable sources.

The company also explained that the integration of renewables like solar and wind into the grid, along with new consumption patterns and large consumers, makes the grid system more "complex" to balance.

Earlier this month, ENTSO-E warned that solar power could be produced in excess with the arrival of good weather. To mitigate this issue, ENTSO-E stated that transmission system operators would create specialized teams to manage electricity supply, through greater resource flexibility and cross-border information sharing.

Euronews Next contacted Spanish companies Red Eléctrica and REN to ask what preparations had been made in response to ENTSO-E's warning but did not receive an immediate response. Cuffe then explained that while the role of renewables is "relevant," he cautioned that power grids have proven fallible long before the inclusion of these new types of energy. "It would be wrong to overstep. But it would also be wrong for me to take an overly defensive stance on how they dare to tarnish renewable energy," he said. "That grid had a very high penetration of renewable energy, and that could be relevant."

What Happens Next in Spain and Portugal?

Eurelectric stated that once power is restored, a safety check will be necessary to ensure that nothing along the grid's power line has been damaged or could lead to another blackout. Euronews Next also asked Red Eléctrica and REN if these safety checks had been carried out, but did not receive an immediate response.

Eurelectric said that the grid will eventually return to normal power levels and that the time required depends on the severity and size of the outage, but further investigations are still needed. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his Portuguese counterpart, Luís Montenegro, have asked the European Commission to present an independent report on the causes of Monday's blackout. A Commission official told Euronews that it is not their role to conduct the investigation. Instead, the inquiry will be led by a Transmission System Operator (TSO) from a member state not connected to the incident, with participation from experts from Spain, Portugal, and France in a working group. The group will have up to six months to deliver a comprehensive report on the blackout, explaining its causes and providing a series of recommendations.

Luis Calama, a judge of the Spanish National Court, stated he would initiate a preliminary investigation to ascertain whether the blackout might have been caused by a cyberattack, despite numerous denials from various government officials.