Spain’s national electricity grid operator has pointed to a sharp drop in solar power production as the likely cause of Monday’s massive blackout, dismissing the possibility of a cyberattack. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has vowed reforms, accountability from private energy providers, and an independent investigation to ensure such an event “never happens again.”

On Tuesday, Red Eléctrica, Spain’s electricity grid operator, ruled out cyberattacks, human error, or unusual weather conditions as the cause of the widespread power outage that affected the Iberian Peninsula. Instead, it identified two instances of “disconnection” likely tied to solar power generation issues.

Eduardo Prieto, Red Eléctrica’s director of operations, explained that these events likely disrupted the grid’s stability, leading to the blackout. While full power restoration has now been achieved, some disruptions continue, particularly in the railway sector.

Prime Minister Sánchez emphasized that the outage was not due to a lack of nuclear energy, dismissing such claims as either false or ignorant. “Had we relied more heavily on nuclear energy, recovery wouldn’t have been as quick,” he argued.

Sánchez announced several key responses:

• A full investigation by Spain’s Ministry for Ecological Transition.
• An independent report requested from Brussels for a clearer understanding of the failure at 12:33 PM on Monday.
• Accountability from private power producers based on detailed system analyses currently underway.

He stated: “Technical teams are continuing to analyze the incident, including telemetry data from energy companies’ control centers. This will help us understand exactly what happened during the critical five seconds that led to the system collapse.”

“Necessary reforms will follow once we fully understand the technical causes. This cannot happen again,” Sánchez concluded.