Spain and Portugal left in the dark and in panic with many unknowns
Cyber attack? A rare atmospheric phenomenon? A heat stroke or magnetic storm? An unknown weapon? Aliens? The world’s media went wild and the speculation began.
Spain and Portugal experienced the largest power outage in recent history. Within seconds, nearly 13 GW of load “disappeared” from the grid – demand collapsed from 25,184 MW to 12,425 MW, and tens of millions of residents in Spain, Portugal and parts of southern France were left without power. A downed 400 kV interconnector between Spain and France is thought to have triggered the “cascading” outage, but the final cause – including the possibility of a cyber-attack – will only become clear once the investigation is complete.
