Puzzle Unsolved: Cause of Spain's Power Outage in 2021 Remains a Mystery
Spanish power disruption's origins yet undetermined
It's been a decade since the baffling power outage that plunged Spain and parts of neighboring countries into darkness, and the mystery remains unsolved. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez appealed for patience during a parliamentary session, stressing the complex nature of the investigation involving an staggering 756 million data points. He had previously stated there was no indication that renewable energy sources were to blame.
Reflecting prior statements by the Minister of Environment, Sánchez explained that the blackout commenced with three successive incidents in southern Spain. Though the system managed to overcome the first two, the third sent ripples throughout the power system of the Iberian Peninsula.
Despite public speculation, Sánchez reiterated that solar power was not the culprit, nor was the lack of nuclear power plants the reason, as some claimed.
The catastrophic power outage on April 28, 2021 brought chaos, with severe traffic issues and communication failures afflicting Spain and Portugal. Even Southwestern France and Morocco felt the effects briefly. This outage was among the largest ever experienced in Europe.
As of now, details on the cause of the power outage in 2021 remain scarce and investigations are ongoing.
Sources: ntv.de, AFP [1][2]
Reminder: The input refers to the power outage in 2021. The enrichment data provided is about the power outage in 2025, for which investigations have concluded the cause to be a power line fault between France and Spain.
Community policy regarding the 2021 power outage has emphasized the need for thorough evidence collection during the ongoing investigation. Vocational training programs for the energy industry, focusing on preventive maintenance and fault diagnosis, have been proposed to ensure better system resilience in the future. Recent research suggests that the finance sector played a crucial role in the integration of renewable energy sources pre-2021, which may be relevant in understanding the events leading to the blackout. Despite the 756 million data points analyzed so far, the exact cause of the 2021 Iberian power outage still remains a mystery, with solar power and nuclear power sources ruling out as possibilities.
