Durčák of ČEPS: Czech experts also involved in investigation into Spain blackout

Experts from Czechia are also involved in investigating the massive power outage in Spain. The results are expected within a few months, Martin Durčák, chairman of the ČEPS board of directors, said today on Czech Television’s Otázky Václava Moravce programme. The expert commission will examine the causes of the outage as well as the response that followed, and its final report will be comprehensive, he said. Durčák described the Czech transmission system as robust.

"It will examine not only the reasons for the blackout, but also the response. It is a lesson for all of us, so that we know how to respond, how the grid can be restored, and what role the various sources played or did not play. It will be a comprehensive report," Durčák said.

In previous major outages, it took up to six months to get the results of investigations, he said. "At this point, we are not commenting at all on what might have caused it," he said.

According to Durčák, the Czech transmission system is robust. "If transmission systems were assessed for robustness, we would be right at the top—not only in terms of the condition of the transmission system, but also according to other parameters," he said. The distance between lines and the number of substations also play a role in a possible blackout, he said. "Dependence on imports is also important. Today, we are able to import almost 50 percent of our consumption," Durčák added.

The whole of mainland Spain and Portugal was hit by a power outage on Monday, 28 April, causing problems particularly in transport. The situation began to improve in some areas at around 17:00, and at about 23:00 Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that electricity supplies had been restored to nearly 50 percent.

Spain is one of the world’s leaders in renewable energy. Renewable sources accounted for the majority of power generation on the day of the blackout, and just before the outage at 12:32, their share of electricity consumption at that moment was around 70 percent, El País reported earlier. Experts contacted by El País say a cyberattack cannot theoretically be ruled out, but that an operation on such a large scale and so synchronised would be extremely difficult.