It can take a sudden shock to remind us how the complex technological networks on which we all rely can be more fragile than we realised. One such shock came at noon on Monday, when tens of millions of people were affected by massive power outages which struck across the Iberian peninsula without warning.
Trains stalled in darkened metro tunnels, gridlock spread across cities as traffic lights failed, mobile phone networks and internet connections went down, making communication impossible. Hundred of flights were cancelled and the Spanish and Portuguese governments advised people to avoid unnecessary journeys. The blackouts continued into Tuesday morning and the overall economic costs have been estimated in the billions.
It was the largest power cut in modern European history, and its causes remain unknown. There was widespread confusion in the immediate aftermath of the blackout when it appeared for some time that electricity operators were blaming an unusual atmospheric phenomenon leading to drastic temperature variations across different parts of the Spanish and Portuguese grids.
But by Tuesday morning that explanation had been dismissed. News websites retracted the erroneous explanations they had published on Monday afternoon, but misinformation and confusion persisted across the internet.
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While the governments in Madrid and Lisbon were quick to say there was no evidence of a cyber security breach, the power cuts come amid rising concerns among European countries about the threats posed to vital infrastructure by international adversaries and bad actors in general, and Russia in particular. Whether it eventually proves to be the case that a security breach took place, the power cuts are a vivid illustration of European vulnerability. That will deepen the sense of urgency to ramp up cooperation on improving defences against such attacks, a process in which Ireland will be expected to play a full part.
Questions have also been raised about whether the region’s rapid transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy sources played a part. Spain has led the way in recent years in its adoption of wind and solar, but there are some suggestions that as a result the national grid may be less resilient when a fault arises somewhere along the line.
Speculation s inevitable when an event of this magnitude occurs without any clear explanation, but it is best avoided until all the facts are known. Nevertheless, the chaos and disruption caused by Monday’s blackouts are a cause for grave concern. Portugal’s prime minister Luis Montenegro has asked the EU’s Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators to perform an independent audit of the outage. That needs to get under way without delay.
