Sara Aagesen, the Third Vice President of the Government and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, stated on Wednesday that the electricity generation losses that led to the widespread blackout on April 28, 2023, in Spain and Portugal originated at substations in the provinces of Granada, Badajoz, and Sevilla, in that order.

Aagesen confirmed that the analysis committee has ruled out a cyberattack on Red Eléctrica de España.

During her appearance at the Congress of Deputies, requested by various parliamentary groups, Aagesen emphasized that no indications of a cyber-attack had been found and described this finding as "very good news." The investigation conducted by her department is now transitioning to the next stages to analyze whether any hacking occurred at the control centers and generation facilities.

Aagesen provided a technical account of events leading up to the blackout at 12:33 PM, revealing that the three substations mentioned lost more than 2.2 gigawatts (GW) within 20 seconds.

This was followed by a cascading disconnection that resulted in a complete supply cut.

She noted that overvoltage might have triggered this disconnection, leading to a loss of synchronization between the mainland system and the continental grid, which activated protections to prevent the failure from spreading throughout Europe.

According to sources from Red Eléctrica, the incidents in Granada, Badajoz, and Sevilla did not occur in the transport network itself, but rather at the generation plants or on networks not managed by the company.

Experts within the electrical sector have downplayed the significance of these disconnections, describing them as common and typically as a consequence rather than a cause of failure.

They argue that the focus should be on why the entire system collapsed instead of isolating events of disconnection.

In response to inquiries from opposition members, Aagesen also ruled out that the power cut was due to coverage, reserve, or network size issues.

She referred to an initial report from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E), which detected two oscillations approximately half an hour prior to the incident in the system connecting the Iberian Peninsula with the rest of Europe.

She asserted the need to determine the extent to which those oscillations may be related to the electrical incident, highlighting the complexity of the system.

Aagesen has pledged transparency in conveying the investigation's conclusions to the public and indicated that these findings would inform measures to prevent future occurrences.

Following the blackout, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez committed to thoroughly investigating the causes and ensuring that the findings are communicated transparently.

This marks the first time he has provided parliamentary groups with information about the outage, indicating that the investigation may be time-consuming and stating that the blackout should not be associated with debates about renewable energy versus nuclear power.

In Congress, Guillermo Mariscal, the spokesperson on energy for the People's Party (PP), harshly criticized Aagesen, calling for her resignation for not taking responsibility.

He attributed the power outage to what he termed a "fundamentalist, irrational, and irresponsible" energy policy which, he claimed, has undermined the electrical system.

Mariscal further alleged that the government has been negligent by ignoring prior warnings from Red Eléctrica and implementing a "suicidal" energy policy that recklessly introduced renewable energy.

Aagesen countered Mariscal's claims by insisting that an independent investigation has already been initiated by the European Union and disputed that the reports he referenced contained any security alerts concerning supply or risks of an energy blackout in the Iberian Peninsula.

She pointed out that the last interconnection of the Spanish system with Europe occurred during the presidency of Mariano Rajoy and affirmed that constructing new interconnections is a governmental priority, specifically projecting a new link between Galicia and northern Portugal by the end of the year.

Regarding claims of ties between the government and Red Eléctrica's leadership, Aagesen stated unequivocally that Red Eléctrica operates independently and does not receive operational instructions from the government.

The PP also proposed a motion calling for an independent audit by the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators in the European Union to clarify the causes of the outage, an initiative that has gained parliamentary acceptance.

Additionally, VOX’s Jose María Figaredo criticized the government for pursuing an agenda based solely on ideological grounds, while representatives from SUMAR emphasized the need to strengthen public energy initiatives, disputing the case for nuclear energy.

The investigation led by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, along with analyses being conducted by ENTSO-E and inquiries initiated by the National Court, continues amid parliamentary discussions.

The Congress has accepted for consideration proposals for the establishment of a research commission concerning the blackout, an initiative that is also progressing in the Senate.