Lorraine Williamson
Electricity supplies in Spain and Portugal were disrupted on Monday following a rapid collapse of the power grid. The system failure occurred within seconds at 12:33 pm, causing widespread outages across both countries and parts of neighbouring regions.
Sudden grid failure across Iberia raises questions
The blackout, which took down the grid across the Iberian Peninsula in under five seconds, led to speculation over its cause. While power has now been restored, the incident prompted concern about the stability of the energy infrastructure.
No extreme weather events at time of outage
Initial assessments from Spain’s national meteorological agency, Aemet, confirmed that no severe weather conditions were recorded at the time. Posting on social media platform X, Aemet said there were no sudden temperature shifts or atmospheric anomalies that could explain the failure.
Meteorologist Mar Gómez of Eltiempo.es supported this, stating that while weather can sometimes lead to outages, in this case, no meteorological indicators were pointing to a cause.
Solar storms and atmospheric vibrations also dismissed
Experts also explored whether a solar storm may have triggered the disruption. Solar flares and plasma clouds can sometimes interfere with Earth’s magnetic field, disrupting radio signals and power supplies. However, solar activity monitoring showed no unusual events on Monday.
Another potential cause — atmospheric vibrations, which can be induced by wind or thermal fluctuations — has also been ruled out. Investigators found no evidence that these played any part in the grid failure.
Meteorologist José Miguel Viñas of Meteored highlighted that extreme heat can occasionally put stress on transmission lines, which may contribute to local failures. However, he noted there were no signs that overheating or excessive demand caused this incident.
PM calls for sector reform and full investigation
In response, the Spanish government has launched a formal investigation. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez held an emergency meeting with private sector electricity providers shortly after the incident. In a statement posted to X, he wrote:
“I held an urgent meeting with private electricity operators. I thanked them for their swift work in restoring supply, and I asked for full cooperation with the Government and independent bodies to identify the causes of the incident.”
Sánchez also stressed the need to improve the system:
“We must implement the necessary upgrades to ensure supply security and the future competitiveness of our energy network.”
A full report is expected in the coming weeks. In the meantime, questions remain over how a national grid across two countries could collapse so rapidly without warning.