At 12:33 a.m., a massive 15 gigawatts of electricity suddenly vanished from Spain’s power grid, a Spanish government spokesperson told POLITICO. The sudden loss accounted for approximately 60 percent of the country’s total electricity consumption at that moment and lasted for five seconds.
This abrupt drop triggered a significant disruption across Spain’s power infrastructure, which is closely linked with Portugal and connected to the broader European system through limited cross-border transmission lines with France.
On Monday, Eduardo Prieto, director of Red Eléctrica—Spain’s electricity transmission system operator—explained that the blackout was caused by a “very strong oscillation in the electrical network.” This instability ultimately led to Spain’s power system becoming disconnected from the rest of Europe and culminated in the collapse of the Iberian electricity grid at 12:38 a.m.
The outage had major ripple effects, impacting public transportation, traffic signal systems, hospitals, and digital payment services. It has been described as an unprecedented event for the region.
Given Spain’s outspoken stance against Israel’s military action in Gaza and its support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression, speculation quickly arose that the blackout could have been a cyberattack. Authorities responded quickly: both the Spanish Joint Cyberspace Command—part of the national Defense Staff—and the National Cryptologic Center have launched formal investigations into the incident.
Meanwhile, 30,000 personnel from the national police and the Civil Guard were deployed in response to the disruption. The event has heightened concerns over cybersecurity threats to critical infrastructure across Europe.













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