The electric breakdown that affected the Iberian Peninsula on April 28 was caused by “a phenomenon of survival” in the network that directed “a chain reaction”, according to the results of a report made public this Tuesday by the Spanish government.
“The April 28 cut was a multifactorial origin, that is, a combination of factors played a role,” said Ecological Transition Minister Sara Aagesen, detailing, at the end of the Council of Ministers, the conclusions of this report.
The brutal fall in the electrical system was caused by “a phenomenon of surge” having led “a chain reaction” with disconnections of several electricity production sites that in turn “caused new disconnections,” he said.
The socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, had announced the creation of a research commission supervised by the Ministry of Ecological Transition following the collapse, inviting the inhabitants to “not speculate” detailed results pending. He then clarified that his conclusions could not be known for several months, given the complexity of this incident, which deprived Spain and Portugal of the current for many hours on April 28, causing chaos in transport.
“Bridge without return”
Referring to a series of “complex phenomena”, Sara Aagesen pointed out during her speech the role of the Spanish Network Manager, but also of certain energy companies, which disconnected their energy plants “inappropriately (…) protect their facilities.”
In addition, “the system did not have a sufficient capacity to control the tension” that day, in particular due to a defect in the programming of these capabilities, the minister continued, insisting that Spain has the theory of a sufficiently solid network to deal with this type of situation.
Due to these errors of the evaluations, “we have reached a point of non -return with an uncontrollable chain reaction” that could only have been verified “if there were previously” measures “to absorb overwhelming problems, he added. After the incident, several hypotheses had been presented to explain this unprecedented breakdown, including that of a cyber attack, quickly discarded by the authorities generated by excess solar energy production.
The hypotheses again discarded on Tuesday by Sara Aagesen, who said, however, that “vulnerabilities” and “deficiencies” had been identified in the security network of the Spanish Electric Red, for which corrective measures will be proposed.
Source: BFM TV
