Sixteen days following a significant power outage across the Iberian Peninsula, the Spanish government has announced that there are no indications of a cyberattack affecting Red Eléctrica, the country's electricity grid operator.

This affirmation was made by the Third Vice President and Minister for Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen, during a session in the Congress of Deputies.

Aagesen stated, "Today I can share a very good piece of news.

After analyzing the system operator and all related data, no indications have been found that the system operator has been the subject of a cyberattack." She emphasized the absence of evidence regarding the cyberattack theory on Red Eléctrica, reiterating her confidence in the operator's security status.

Red Eléctrica had initially dismissed the possibility of a cybersecurity incident just one day after the blackout, which occurred on April 28. However, shortly thereafter, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez kept the paradigm of a potential cyberattack alive, announcing at a press conference in Moncloa that an investigation would commence, including this scenario among the possible causes.

The Vice President explained that the working group tasked with investigating the reasons behind the blackout has examined three key areas: the system operator, control centers, and generation facilities.

While the government has ruled out cybersecurity issues at the operator level, investigations are still ongoing to determine whether such problems existed in other parts of the grid and among operators.

Attention is now shifting towards oscillations detected within the European electrical system approximately thirty minutes prior to the blackout.

The government is investigating whether these oscillations could have contributed to the electrical incident, as the Iberian Peninsula's electrical system is a component of a broader, highly intricate pan-European grid.

Aagesen described the European electrical system as a synchronous interconnected system, recognized as the largest in the world, involving millions of interconnected elements that instantaneously fluctuate in energy consumption and generation.

She explained the phenomenon of inter-area oscillations, likening it to a seesaw effect, which can be more pronounced at the edges of the network where there is less interconnection, such as in Spain.

In addition to the oscillation analysis, the Vice President reported that three generation losses occurred in substations across Granada, Badajoz, and Sevilla prior to the blackout, totaling 2.2 gigawatts (GW) over 20 seconds.

These generation losses triggered a cascading disconnection due to overvoltage, a critical factor contributing to the total power failure.

Aagesen noted that they are identifying disconnections that may have been triggered by overvoltage as a potential precursor to the cascading events that led to the blackout.