Portugal Safety and Security Report Wednesday 30th April 2025
Disruption of the National Electricity Grid – Special
Good morning. Power has now returned to the Iberian Peninsula after a huge outage on Monday brought most of Spain and Portugal to a standstill, grounding planes, halting public transport, and forcing hospitals to suspend routine operations in some cases. Some households were with electricity for more than 12 hours.
In Spain, the state of emergency has been lifted in all regions where it was put in place by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez the night before, except in Valencia, where authorities have requested it to remain in effect until further notice.
There has been speculation as to the cause, with social media users have pinned responsibility on a cyberattack by Russia, Morocco, North Korea or a terrorist organisation – however there is no evidence to support these claims. Both the Portuguese and Spanish Governments stating that there was no evidence it suggest it was a cyberattack.
Several media outlets – including Reuters, CNN and the Guardian – reported on Monday that Portugal’s grid operator, Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN), had said in a statement that a “rare atmospheric phenomenon,” namely extreme temperature variations in Spain’s interior, was to blame for the massive outage. These reports have since been rectified, with a REN spokesperson saying on Tuesday that the company had “never put out this statement.”
The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stated that: a strong oscillation, in technical terms, in the European electrical system triggered the interruption of supply throughout the Iberian Peninsula and some areas of southern France”. “At 12:33 /Spanish timer), and for five seconds, 15 gigawatts of energy suddenly disappeared from the system. It is something that has never happened before,” said the Spanish prime minister. “Fifteen gigawatts is equivalent to approximately 60% of Spain consumption at that time.” Pedro Sánchez has asked Brussels to deliver an “independent report” about yesterday’s blackout.
Portugal’s Prime Minister also announced yesterday that the Government will create an independent technical commission and request a European audit to assess the electrical systems of the countries affected by Monday’s blackout. He added that “We will spare no effort in providing clarifications regarding a serious problem that did not originate in Portugal,” he stated.
Being prepared for emergencies, accidents or catastrophes – which always come without warning – must be a rule for everyone. Readers may recall that in March this year Brussels asks EU citizens to put together a 72-hour emergency kit to face crises, which should include food, water, and copies of important identity documents, a portable radio, a flashlight, spare batteries, chargers, among other items. The EU wants every member state to develop a 72-hour survival kit for citizens to face any new crisis that might emerge as part of its Preparedness Union Strategy
After a day of blackouts and, in many cases, without communications, this should trigger a review of the effectiveness of communications in times of crisis, where there serious constraints or non-operation of social media. Similar to the sci-fi film “Independence Day” (made in 1996) where in the end “Morse code” was the how communication was achieved after the global internet system collapsed as a result of an alien attack, in this case it was those members of the public using simple battery operated radios who had access to most information.
We have been promoting the use of emergency kits, including battery operated radios for some years – perhaps now (after the event) this will gain some traction. Let’s hope so!
We were fortunate that this occurred on the day of the national rail strike when trains were not running. In Spain some 35,000 passengers had to be rescued from trains which had stopped due to electricity failure over the entire rail network. The second fortunate matter was that there were no major incidents that day, such as rural fires. Lack of the availability of the ANEPC occurrence platform, and no social media would have made communicating alerts and information very difficult in such circumstances – not to mention adding to the pressures on the emergency services.
We are glad therefore that the Prime Minister has welcomed the Government’s decision to “prioritize communication via radio and television”, admitting, however, that things could have worked better and that there is “always time to improve procedures”. A case of better late than never as this is an issue which is not new and one we at Safe Communities has raised several times with the authorities.
Lastly we thank the emergency services once again in having to deal with a sudden, unexpected and major crisis that involved, thousands of personnel which developed into a major operational and logistical operation co-ordinated under the umbrella of civil protection.
Our team at Safe Communities wishes you a safe week ahead
News
Luís Montenegro: “The country had a highly positive and strong response to serious, unprecedented and unexpected circumstances”
On Tuesday, one day after the blackout that left Portugal in the dark, the Prime Minister praised the country’s response to a situation that he described as “serious, unprecedented and unexpected”. He thanked the population for their civility and the work of professionals on the ground, clarifying that the Government will now request an independent European audit to determine the origin of the failure. In response to the criticism, he explained that the anomalies in SIRESP “are not new” and that, in the first few hours, Civil Protection was focused on responding to the “most critical areas”.
In a statement to the country made from São Bento, the Prime Minister thanked the Portuguese population this Tuesday for their “ability to help each other, civility and maturity” in facing yesterday’s blackout, a situation that he described as “serious, unprecedented and unexpected”.
He also thanked the work carried out by the professionals who spent the day in the field, highlighting that the country had “a highly positive and strong response” and that it showed that it was prepared to experience “good days but also less good days”.
In an assessment of the operation, Luís Montenegro assured that the country is now connected “normally” to the electricity grid, with all 6.4 million customers having energy. He also highlighted that the system is operating with national production and autonomously.
There are, however, specific constraints to be noted in the water supply, with rail and airport transport “in operation, recovering”, with Humberto Delgado airport being the one in “the most intense need for recovery”.
In terms of fuel, the supply is “normalized”. In Education, only 15 of the 809 groups had problems with reopening and Health services are “stabilized and functioning”.
The Prime Minister also highlighted that the restoration of power was faster in Portugal than in Spain, which even has the help of France and Morocco.
Portugal to request independent European audit
The Prime Minister also reported that it was decided in the Council of Ministers that Portugal will request the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators to carry out an independent European audit of the electrical systems of the affected countries, to “fully determine” the causes of the blackout – which so far remain unidentified.
Montenegro argued that “urgent responses” are needed and promised that the Portuguese Government will “spare no effort” in clarifying a “serious problem” which, he recalled, did not originate in Portugal.
Among the decisions of the Extraordinary Council of Ministers, it is worth highlighting the end of the declaration of energy crisis at 11:59 pm today and the creation of an independent technical commission that will evaluate the reaction and management mechanisms, the recovery of the electrical system and critical infrastructures.
This commission, explained Luís Montenegro, should be made up of seven individuals: an expert in energy, another in networks, another in communications systems, another in Civil Protection, another in Health, and three individuals appointed by the Assembly of the Republic.
The Council of Ministers also decided to extend, until tomorrow, all deadlines for fulfilling tax obligations that ended Monday.
Government wants ‘blackstart’ function in more power plants
The Prime Minister also indicated that the Ministry of the Environment is already working to extend the operation of the ‘blackstart’ mechanism at the Tapada do Outeiro plant until 2030 and to include this function in more plants, including Alqueva .
It should be remembered that the ‘blackstart’ system translates into the ability of a power plant to restart the production and distribution of energy after a total or partial failure, without depending on external energy.
Anomalies in SIRESP “are not new”
Luís Montenegro admitted that anomalies were recorded in SIRESP – Portugal’s Integrated Emergency and Security Network System, but that these difficulties “are not new” and that they are a cause for concern.
The Prime Minister promised to make a “very rigorous” assessment of what happened so that we can “overcome once and for all” the system’s communication constraints.
Regarding the actions of Civil Protection, he clarified that the SMS to the population was sent around 5:00 pm, but was only received after 8:00 pm, “which shows that communications were down”.
The Prime Minister therefore welcomed the Government’s decision to prioritize communication via radio and television, admitting, however, that things could have worked better and that there is “always time to improve procedures”.
When asked by journalists whether Civil Protection should not have communicated with the population earlier, Montenegro clarified that this authority was, in the first hours, “concentrated on the most critical areas”.
“It was necessary to ensure that hospitals continued to function – it was a question of defining priorities.”
Situation Report issued by the ANEPC – Disruption of the National Electricity Grid
Following the interruption of the national electricity grid, the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) reports that the country’s electricity supply has been practically fully restored.
From the very beginning of the event, ANEPC activated the mechanisms provided for under the Integrated System of Protection and Relief Operations, ensuring coordination between the various civil protection agents, entities with a duty of cooperation and entities responsible for critical infrastructure, with the activation, at 1:30 p.m., of the National Operational Coordination Centre (CCON).
In this context, the following operational determinations were implemented within the scope of the CCON:
- Meetings of the Operational Coordination Centers (CCO) at their various levels (regional and sub-regional);
- Strengthening inter-institutional coordination with operators in the energy sector (electricity grid, fuels and gas grid), telecommunications, security forces, health services, transport services, water and wastewater supply services, among others;
- Activation of operational coordination centers, enabling the civil protection system to ensure a prompt response to incidents, at various organizational levels – national, regional, sub-regional and municipal;
- Support for hospitals, nursing homes and long-term care units and other essential institutions affected by the power outage, with the supply of fuel and generators;
- Implementation of contingency plans to ensure the operation of priority equipment and systems, including emergency generators;
- Identification, in conjunction with Social Security, of the most vulnerable population groups for intervention priorities;
- Permanent monitoring of the situation, with regular updates through the official channels of ANEPC, Municipal Civil Protection and other entities; 8. Sending of preventive SMS to the population, from 5:15 p.m.;
- Issuance at 7:30 p.m. of the Operational Technical Communication increasing the Special Alert Status to level orange to increase the operational response capacity to deal with the foreseeable increase in incidents during the night and early morning.
ANEPC continues to closely monitor the evolution of the situation, remaining in coordination with all competent entities.