Power outage in Spain: Competition authority opens investigation

"The CNMC will conduct its own investigation as an independent regulator," its president, Cani Fernández, said during a hearing at the Congress of Deputies, adding that the public body had begun gathering "all the necessary information" on how the outage unfolded.

"We will be looking not only at the causes of the incident, which remain unknown, but also at how the electrical system was restarted, to see if any specific errors were made during the process," she added.

This investigation is in addition to the one launched on April 29 by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, as well as the one coordinated by the European Network of Electricity Transmission System Operators (Entso-E) and the one opened by the Spanish courts into possible "computer sabotage."

"The CNMC provides independent technical knowledge" and "intervenes on a different level from other actors, although in a complementary manner," Cani Fernández explained to the deputies, specifying that his organization had "already sent requests for data" to companies in the sector.

According to authorities, the equivalent of 60% of Spain's electricity consumption - 15 gigawatts - disappeared in the space of five seconds during the April 28 blackout, which plunged Spain and Portugal into chaos for several hours.

Several theories have been put forward to explain the outage, including a cyberattack, which the Spanish electricity grid operator (REE) deemed implausible. A grid failure caused by excess solar power production has also been suggested.

On April 28, photovoltaic production was "high" but did not exceed "the maximum values ​​reached on previous days," Fernandez stressed on Tuesday, calling for caution regarding the possible responsibility of renewable energies in the incident.

"Although the 28th was a day of high renewable energy production, no anomalies or particularities were observed that could, on their own, explain the incident," insisted the head of the CNMC, for whom Spain's energy mix was at its "usual" level that day.

A message hammered home for several days by Ecology Minister Sara Aagesen, for whom "all hypotheses" are open.

"We are continuing to work," she told the online media El Diario on Sunday, "but the investigation will take time because it involves a very complex process."

As part of this investigation, the National Cybersecurity Institute (Incibe) has sent requests for information to energy companies, including small businesses, which are potentially more vulnerable to cyberattacks, according to a source close to the case.

According to this source, this request is part of the normal procedure, all avenues must be considered.