A comprehensive power outage hit Spain and Portugal on Monday, cripping public transport, leading to major traffic jams, and flights.
Millions of people were left without electricity in Portugal, Spain and parts of France, which was initially a problem with the European Power Grid, according to Reuters, AP, Sky News and Euronuse.
Energy providers worked immediately to restore service. Spain’s power operator, Red Eletrica warned that the blackout could live between six to ten hours.
A rare atmospheric phenomenon
First, the authorities did not dismiss the possibility of a cyber attack, and the Spanish government stated that it was “working to determine the origin and results of the incident, dedicating all available resources to its Swift resolution.” However, Portugal’s grid operator Rain later identified the cause as a rare atmospheric phenomenon.
“Due to excessive temperature fluctuations in Spain’s interior, unusual oscillation on 400 kV ultra-high voltage lines-an incident known as induced atmospheric vibrations,” explained by the company.
These oscillations disrupted the synchronization of electrical systems, causing a cascading failure to the interconnected European grid, said Ren. The company estimates that, given the complexity of the event and the need to regenerate international power flow, it may take up to a week to completely stabilize the network.
The National Cyber Security Center in Portugal confirmed that there was no evidence of a cyber attack, a statement echoed by Teresa Ribera, former Spanish Energy Minister and current vice -president of the European Commission.
