What Does the Total Breakdown of “Zero Energy” Mean for Spain?

A situation almost returned to normal in Spain and Portugal

This Monday, April 28 was marked by a total electrical breakdown in the middle of the day in Spain. Results, rail traffic has been interrupted in Spain but also in Portugal, which was also impacted by this incident. Delayed flights, traffic jams linked to the breakdown of red lights, or unavailable bank card payments are also consequences of this incident.

What is zero energy?

Indeed, what happened in Spain and Portugal is what is called “zero energy”. According to the Spanish media Xataka, This phenomenon is characterized by the interruption or the almost total reduction of an electrical energy flow present in an electrical system, and this in a very short period of time, “Barely five seconds”, According to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Zero energy can be caused by several factors, such as weather events, infrastructure failures, or even major imbalances between supply and demand. In the case of Spain, the first hypothesis seems unlikely, since the weather on Monday, April 28 was sunny. The others remain entirely possible, without forgetting the hypothesis of a cyber attack, another track studied to explain this failure.

A breakdown already identified on Spanish territory

This is not the first time that Spain has faced this kind of situation. Indeed, the Spanish media recalls that the Canary Islands, more precisely the south of Tenerife, had been affected in June 2020 by a power failure. A problem that can take a long time to recover.

Although in some regions electricity began to recover only half an hour after the incident, others had to wait for hours, with an end of power cut on Tuesday April 29 in the early morning. Now that the situation seems to be controlled, the authorities will be able to look more at the reasons for this unprecedented failure.

Source: Xataka