MADRID (Reuters) -An abrupt loss of power generation at a substation in Granada, followed by failures seconds later in Badajoz and Seville, triggered an unprecedented blackout across Spain and Portugal on April 28, Spain’s energy minister said on Wednesday.
Several investigations involving the government, security agencies and technical experts are looking into the power outage, but it is the first time Spanish authorities have pointed to specific areas as its origin.
Energy Minister Sara Aagesen told lawmakers that the three initial incidents, whose cause has yet to be determined, provoked a generation loss of 2.2 gigawatts of electricity, which triggered a series of grid disconnections.
The inquiry will take time and there will likely be no simple answers to what appears to be a complex issue, she said.
“We are analysing millions of pieces of data. We also continue to make progress in identifying where these generation losses occurred and we already know that they started in Granada, Badajoz and Seville,” Aagesen said.
She said the government’s investigation is also looking at reports by operators of volatility in the days before the blackout and is examining excessive voltage as one possible cause for the loss of generation.
Investigators, Aagesen said, had ruled out any cyberattack on the grid operator REE, an imbalance in supply and demand or insufficient grid capacity.
Spain’s use of renewable energy as an increasing part of its electricity generation mix has come under scrutiny since the blackout, as has its plan to phase out nuclear energy by 2035.
Critics have said that one possible contributor to the outage may have been a lack of so-called “grid inertia” because of the relatively small share of nuclear and fossil fuel generation in Spain’s power mix.
Aagesen defended the government’s energy policy, saying that renewables have lowered bills for households and businesses and will allow Spain to attract more investment while providing more energy autonomy at a time of geopolitical instability.
Spain’s electricity system continues to use the same level of renewables as it did before and during the outage, she said.
“A mix with more renewables reduces external risks. It enables us to anticipate, adapt to, and respond quickly to any eventuality.”
Aagesen signalled openness to extending the life of nuclear plants, but only if operators could guarantee their security and acceptable prices for consumers, and if this could be shown to contribute to security of supply.
(Reporting by Pietro Lombardi; writing by Charlie Devereux; editing by Inti Landauro, Gareth Jones and Mark Heinrich)
