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Spain’s opposition demanded on Wednesday that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez appear before parliament to explain the causes of this week’s catastrophic electricity blackout, as political recriminations mount over one of Europe’s biggest-ever power outages.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the centre-right Partido Popular opposition party, has accused the socialist government of an “information blackout”, as he insisted the prime minister release more details about the events leading to Monday’s power cut.
Other opposition politicians have attacked Spain’s high reliance on renewables sources such as solar and wind. Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right Vox party, demanded earlier this week that the country abandon “climate fanaticism”.
Sánchez has called on private electricity providers to assist in the investigation into the origins of the outage, as more deaths are linked to the electricity system’s collapse. A committee of officials from different ministries will meet on Wednesday afternoon to analyse data from private operators.
Three people died in northern Spain after apparent carbon monoxide poisoning linked to a generator they were using during Monday’s outage. The Spanish Civil Guard confirmed the deaths, after firefighters detected high levels of the toxic gas in the family’s home. Local media reported that the family had been using the generator to power a respirator for one of the victims.
A woman was also found dead in Madrid in what seemed to be a fire caused by a candle, according to national police.
Investigators are continuing to assess what caused Spain to lose 15 gigawatts of electricity — some 60 per cent of its supply — in five seconds on Monday.
According to analysts, the frequency on Spain’s electricity grid — the rate at which electrical current alternates — dropped suddenly at 12:33 local time that day, triggering many power stations to switch off. The country’s grid operator, Red Eléctrica, was not able to order enough additional power to come online to avoid the outage.
Sánchez has said the government is still assessing all potential causes. But some politicians are blaming Spain’s vast renewables network.
At a European level, politicians from the conservative European People’s Party, the EU’s largest political group, have also criticised Spain’s focus on renewables. The party backs nuclear energy, which the Spanish government has committed to end by 2035.
Spain was relying on a large amount of renewable energy when the country lost power, with some 55 per cent of its electricity supply coming from solar shortly before the incident. However, nuclear power plants and other generators also disconnected from the grid at the moment of the blackout.
So far, Spain shows little signs of reneging on its advanced renewables mix. In her first public comments on the grid’s collapse, Red Eléctrica’s director, Beatriz Corredor, insisted on Wednesday that renewable energy was not to blame.
“Connecting such a serious incident of Monday to the penetration of renewables isn’t true. It’s not correct,” she told the Cadena SER radio channel.
“We cannot know the causes until we have analysed all the data coming from the generators [of electricity],” she said.
“We’re doing everything to put this system back in the shortest time possible, to keep operating with security with the most advanced energy mix in all of Europe,” Corredor, an ex-socialist minister, added. She also ruled out resigning over the incident.
Sánchez has sought to put the spotlight on private electricity companies, having summoned representatives of Iberdrola, Endesa, EDP, Acciona and Naturgy for talks in Madrid on Tuesday. He called on them to hand over data that could help identify the reason for the outage.
Iberdrola says it has collaborated closely with the government to determine the causes of the incident. Its executive chair Ignacio Galán said on Wednesday it was for Red Eléctrica to explain why the blackout occurred.
