Türkiye evaluates power outage in Europe, confirms no impact on national grid

Türkiye’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar commented on the recent electricity blackout in Europe, emphasizing that while the situation has not caused any issues for Türkiye, it could have had significant impacts.

European power outage affects multiple countries

Bayraktar addressed the Cabinet meeting on the issue, noting that the blackout began in Spain and affected regions in Portugal and France.

Despite Türkiye’s connection to the European electricity grid, Bayraktar assured that the outage did not impact the country’s power supply.

“We are not facing any issues, but it could have been significant. Fortunately, we are at the farthest end of the grid,” Bayraktar said.

He further explained that Spain was believed to be the primary cause of the outage, due to difficulties managing excess wind and solar energy production when demand was low.

The situation was exacerbated by the disconnection of the interconnection system in France, as it took measures to protect itself.

Restoration of power in Spain and Portugal

Following the massive power failure, electricity has been restored to over 90% of Spain and Portugal. Spain’s energy provider, Red Electrica Espanola, reported that by 7 a.m., the country had met 99.95% of its energy needs.

“The power demand has been largely restored, and the system is normalizing,” Red Electrica Espanola stated. Meanwhile, in Portugal, the government confirmed that power had been fully restored to most regions, with no security issues reported during the blackout.

Impact on transportation and daily life

The blackout, which disrupted daily life, left hundreds stranded in trains, and flights were delayed or canceled across Spain and Portugal.

The lack of power led to chaos in transportation networks, with Madrid alone carrying out 286 rescue operations to free people trapped in elevators.

The blackout affected around 60 million people across the Iberian Peninsula, and many locals expressed frustration as phone services and internet connections were also disrupted.

Power supply challenges in Iberian Peninsula

The power failure, which began at midday on Monday, was caused by an abrupt loss of 15 gigawatts (GWs) of electricity within five seconds. While authorities have not confirmed the cause, they are investigating potential issues related to Spain’s electricity grid.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez described the outage as an unprecedented event. He noted that no specific cause had been confirmed yet, and he urged the public to avoid speculation.

Spain grid operator rules out cyberattack for blackout

Spain’s grid operator on Tuesday ruled out a cyberattack as the cause of a sweeping blackout that sparked chaos for millions of people across the Iberian Peninsula the previous day.

“With the analysis that we have been able to carry out up to now, we can rule out a cybersecurity incident in the facilities” of national grid operator Red Electrica, its director of operations Eduardo Prieto told a news conference.

However recently the Portugal’s government, along with Spanish officials, initialy pointed to a “rare atmospheric phenomenon” as a contributing factor to the power disruption, though the cause remains under investigation.

“Extreme temperature variations in Spain contributed to the outage,” REN officials said.

European Council President Antonio Costa underlined Tuesday that there were “no indications” of any cyberattack.

Recently, the Portuguese government also ruled out a cyberattack in the outage.