Spain's blackout: Atmospheric event claims debunked

Tuesday 29 April 2025 - 16:45

On April 29, 2025, the Portuguese power network operator, REN, firmly refuted claims circulating on social media that a massive blackout across the Iberian Peninsula was caused by a rare atmospheric event. With nearly 60 million residents affected, the blackout raised urgent questions about its origins, yet no definitive explanation has emerged.

Bruno Silva, a spokesperson for REN, clarified to AFP that the organization did not disseminate the statement attributing the outage to environmental conditions. This announcement came as confusion spread regarding the true cause of the power failure.

The message in question, which quickly gained traction on various platforms, suggested that "a fault in the Spanish electricity grid linked to a rare atmospheric phenomenon" was responsible. It further claimed that "due to extreme temperature variations in inland Spain, abnormal oscillations were recorded in the very high-voltage lines (400 kV)," a phenomenon termed "induced atmospheric vibration."

However, the Spanish weather office, AEMET, dismissed these assertions, noting that no unusual meteorological or atmospheric phenomena had been recorded on the day of the outage, nor were there any sudden temperature fluctuations.

Adding to the investigation, the Spanish grid operator, REE, has explicitly ruled out a "cybersecurity incident" as a contributing factor. As authorities continue to probe the circumstances surrounding this widespread blackout, the search for clarity remains paramount for the affected populace.