The electrical failure in Spain and Portugal was caused by “a phenomenon of overvoltage”, according to a report by the Spanish government

The electrical breakdown which affected the Iberian Peninsula on April 28 was caused by “A phenomenon of overvoltages” on the network that led “A chain reaction” with disconnections from several electricity production sites having in turn having “Provoked new disconnections”according to the results of a report made public, Tuesday, June 17, by the Spanish government.

“The cut of April 28 had a multifactorial origin, that is to say that a combination of factors played a role”explained the Minister of Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen, detailing, at the end of the Council of Ministers, the conclusions of this report.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had announced the creation of a commission of inquiry overseen by the Ministry of Ecological Transition in the aftermath of the breakdown, inviting the inhabitants to “Do not speculate” Pending detailed results.

He then clarified that his conclusions could not be known for several months, given the complexity of the incident, which deprived of Spain and Portugal for many hours on April 28.

“An uncontrollable chain reaction”

Evoking a series of “Complex phenomena”M^me Aagesen pointed out during his intervention the role of the manager of the Spanish network, REE, but also of certain energy companies which disconnected their power plants from the system of “Inappropriate way (…) To protect their installations ».

Furthermore, “The system did not have sufficient voltage control capacity” That day, due to a defect in programming these capacities, continued the minister, insisting that Spain theory has a solid network in theory to cope with this type of situation.

Due to these appreciation errors, “We arrived at a point of no return with an uncontrollable chain reaction” who could only have been checked “If there had been before” Measures taken to absorb overvoltages, she added.

Several hypotheses had been put forward to explain this unprecedented breakdown, including that of a cyber attack – quickly dismissed by the authorities – and that of a failure of the network generated by an excess of solar energy production. Hypotheses again excluded Tuesday by m^me Aagesen, which however specified that “Vulnerabilities” and “Carences” had been identified in the security network of the Spanish electricity network, for which corrective measures will be offered.