At the time of writing on Monday 28 April, several regions of the Iberian Peninsula were still affected by a power cut that hit Spain and Portugal, as well as part of France, at 12.30 pm. The supply was gradually restored over the course of the afternoon and evening, although the cause of the incident has not yet been precisely identified.
“The grid operators in both countries are working to find the cause and restore the electricity supply”, said the President of the European Council, António Costa, on the social network X, after being in contact with the leaders of Spain and Portugal.
“At this stage, there is no indication that this is a cyber attack”, he added.
“It’s better not to speculate. We will know the causes, we are not ruling out any hypothesis”, declared the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, in a televised address.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who was expected in Valencia for the EPP congress (see other news), reaffirmed the institution’s support “in monitoring the situation with the national and European authorities and our electricity coordination group”.
“Protocols are in place to restore the functioning of the system”, European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho sought to reassure.
Also on X, the Ukrainian Energy Minister, German Galuschenko, said that his country was ready to “contribute to restoring the stable operation of the energy grids of our partners and allies in Europe”. “We are ready to share our knowledge and experience, including that acquired during Russia’s systematic attacks on energy infrastructure”, he said.
The European association representing retailers and wholesalers, EuroCommerce, asked all citizens to “remain calm” and noted in a press release that “disruptions to payment systems and shop operations were being reported, as well as cases of disinformation”.
At around 5.30pm, the Spanish transmission system operator, Red Eléctrica, declared that several regions were once again supplied with electricity.
Its French counterpart, RTE, had indicated earlier that the French grid was secure. “No contagion from this incident is to be feared”, he said. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)