Portugal’s Prime Minister, Luis Montenegro has disclosed that his government has requested the EU’s Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators to perform an independent audit of the power outage that hit the Iberian Peninsula yesterday.
He told a news briefing, “We want a full investigation of the outage’s causes,” adding, “We need quick, urgent answers.”
Portugal’s government earlier ruled out a cyberattack as the cause of the power cut, saying there seemed to have been an “issue in the power transmission network” in Spain.
This came after Spain’s power company reached the same conclusion.
The European Commissioner for Energy and Housing, Dan Jorgensen noted in a post on X that the European Commission will initiate a “thorough investigation” of the power outages in Spain and Portugal.
Describing the blackout as the “most severe for almost two decades in Europe”, Jorgensen said, “we stand ready to support Spain and Portugal in all possible ways.”
Also, the European Commission Chief Spokesperson, Paula Pinho stated at a daily press briefing that the EU “will be looking into the lessons learned” from the blackout in Spain and Portugal to prevent a similar outage elsewhere in Europe.
Pinho said that the cut was “of unprecedented magnitude” and assured that the bloc will “obviously draw the necessary conclusions, and share them, and, if necessary, take the necessary action.”
“We look very closely into what were the reasons, how well were we prepared, and what are the lessons that can be drawn from such an incident. This will definitely keep all these actors busy in the coming days and weeks.”
Paula Pinho
Pinho said that the EU was still awaiting full assessment by Spain as to the causes, as she declined to comment on speculations whether the use of renewable power could contribute to the outage.
Pinho also called out mis- and disinformation circulating online yesterday, including an article featuring a made-up quote falsely attributed to Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen.
Separately, Commission Spokesperson on preparedness, Eva Hrncirova, added that the Spanish and Portuguese operators are “well experienced in handling high volumes of renewables in their electricity system.”
Hrncirova was also asked about the EU’s recent call for Europeans to step up their preparations for any disruptions, as she said “it applies to many situations in life, being prepared is better than being badly surprised.”
Investigative Commission Set Up In Spain To Probe Power Outage
Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez said that an investigative commission has been set up in Spain to look into the widespread power cut. “All the necessary measures will be taken to ensure that this does not happen again,” Sánchez told a press conference.
The commission will be led by Spain’s Ministry of Ecological Transition, which will work with the Spanish National Cybersecurity Institute, the National Cryptology Centre and the National Competition Market Commission.
It comes after the Spanish High Court earlier announced a separate investigation to establish whether the incident could have been caused by a cyberattack, which would be classed as a crime of terrorism.
Sanchez hailed help from electricity supplies from France and Morocco. “We also have questions ourselves,” he added.
He noted that the results of government investigations will be used to strengthen Spain’s electric system, so that what happened on Monday “cannot ever happen again.”
Sánchez also insisted that the government will “demand responsibility from private operators.”
In his view, Sánchez added there was not a problem with renewable energy access during the outage.
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