What caused the blackout? Suddenly, 60% of electricity production disappeared.

BarcelonaNobody wants to officially get involved in the causes that have led the Iberian Peninsula to go darkSpanish President Pedro Sánchez insists that all possibilities remain open. All police forces, including Red Eléctrica, are thoroughly investigating what happened. However, Spanish government sources have confirmed to ARA that, suddenly, in just five seconds, 60% of Spain's electricity production disappeared this afternoon. The Spanish president also confirmed this in his appearance. Fifteen gigawatts of electricity have been lost, equivalent to twice the entire electricity production of all the state's nuclear power plants combined.

In any case, in Sánchez's appearance just after eleven o'clock at night, he assured that the causes of something exceptional, something that had "never" occurred, are being investigated. From then on, the message was one of urging calm. "The government will work to determine the cause, but now the priority is to work to return to normality," the Spanish president assured. However, for the PP, the Moncloa has not managed the situation adequately. The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, lamented that the Spanish government has left the public and the autonomous communities with an "unprecedented lack of information."

One of the first options being considered is a cyberattack, which no one wants to completely rule out yet, although there is no evidence that this is the case at the moment. According to sources consulted by ARA, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) are not finding any trace of a cyberattack. The same sources suggest that the main hypothesis is a technical failure in the system, without specifying how, when, or why.

"We have no evidence of the causes of the incident. Everything will be analyzed in detail, but we cannot yet speculate on the origin," insisted Red Eléctrica spokesperson Eduardo Prieto. The spokesperson only explained that "a very strong fluctuation in power flows in the electrical grid has been observed, and as a result, there has been a disconnection between the peninsular system and the European system. This disconnection, along with the fluctuations, has led to a collapse of the Spanish electrical system. From this moment on, 3:00 p.m., restoration of electrical service." In fact, the Spanish government has also insisted on not speculating. One of the governments' greatest fears is that, once service is restored, it will fail again. Hence the recommendation not to overuse electronic devices when the power is restored.

Speculation

The first to speak of a possible cyberattack are Portuguese government officials. "I know it affects different countries in Europe, and I believe it also affects Morocco. It's something on a large scale that, due to its scale, is compatible with a cyberattack," said Portuguese Deputy Minister for Territorial Concessions, Manuel Castro Almeida, in statements to RTP. When asked again about the possibility of a cyberattack, he responded that "that possibility exists, although it is not confirmed." Hours later, Portuguese acting Prime Minister Luís Montenegro acknowledged that his government did not know the causes of the problem, but pointed to Spain as the source of the power outage. As the hours passed, the cyberattack hypothesis began to decline, mainly because no one has found any evidence to prove it, nor has any hacker group, at this time, claimed responsibility for the strike. Energy sector sources also downplayed the cyberattack theory.

"At the moment, there is nothing that allows us to confirm that there has been any kind of boycott or cyberattack," said European Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera shortly afterward from Brussels.