Spain examines the cyber-weakness of small generators as part of its investigation into a nationwide power blackout

SENIOR officials in the Spanish government have expressed ‘concerns’ about the cyber defence capabilities of small electricity generators as investigators continue to search for the causes of last month’s nationwide blackout.

According to the Financial Times, representatives from Spain’s National Cybersecurity Institute (Incibe) have demanded information from small to medium-sized power facilities – including solar and wind farms – about their cybersecurity amid fears that any weak link may have been exploited by malicious actors to provoke April’s unprecedented power cut across the Iberian peninsular. 

Companies that operate renewable power plants report that they have received an array of questions from Incibe, including ‘Is it possible to control the power plant remotely?’, ‘Were any anomalies detected prior to the April 28 incident?’, and ‘Have you installed any recent security patches or updates?’

The questions have reignited the debate on whether Spain’s dependence upon renewable forms of energy, rather than fossil fuels or nucleic power, may be to blame for this blackout. Pedro Sanchez, Prime Minister, has tried to vehemently deny that suggestion.

Speaking in parliament last week, Sanchez attempted to silence his critics, including the leader of the conservative Partido Popular (PP), Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, who have suggested that his government’s green energy policy may have been to blame.

He said that there was no evidence to suggest the accident in Spain was due to a surplus of renewable energy or a shortage of nuclear power plants.

However, the energy department of his own company remains open to it. “As we stand today, there are no possibilities that we have ruled out.” The Spanish Ministry of Energy and Environment said, “Everything remains on the Table” when asked to explain the cause of this power outage. 

Some experts think that Spain’s switch to renewable energy makes it more vulnerable to attack.

Hackers and other malicious actors are now more likely to be able to disrupt the country’s power grid, as there are thousands of smaller generators instead of a few large, regulated facilities.

The blackout occurred when Spain lost 15 gigawatts of electricity supply – equating to 60% of the national supply – in just five seconds, causing multiple other power stations to disconnect from the grid.

It was Europe’s largest power outage ever, with the entire mainland of Spain and Portugal left without electricity for several hours.