A court in Spain announced the secrecy of an investigation into a power outage.

The Spanish National Court has classified an investigation into the blackout across the country. This was announced on April 30 by the press service of the judicial authorities of the kingdom.

"The judge of the National Court, Jose Luis Calama, declared confidential the proceedings in the case initiated to investigate whether the shutdown of the Spanish electricity grid <...> could be an act of cyber sabotage against critical Spanish infrastructure," the publication says on the website.

It is specified that the confidential status of the case was assigned at the request of the Spanish Prosecutor's Office.

According to the resolution, the declaration of secrecy is aimed at "preventing a situation that could seriously jeopardize the outcome of the investigation." It is noted that interference or manipulation of the outcome of the proceedings can be avoided accordingly.

The Kingdom has closed down: what is happening in Spain after the blackout

The damage to the country's economy could exceed 1 billion euros

On April 28, large-scale power and communication outages occurred in Spain and Portugal. Major cities such as Valencia, Barcelona, Madrid, La Coruna and Seville were affected, and serious disruptions also occurred at Madrid—Barajas International Airport. Power supply problems were also observed in Andorra and parts of France.

In the evening of the same day, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced the restoration of electricity in half of the country. The authorities used fuel reserves to maintain energy supply. An anti-crisis committee was urgently set up to coordinate the restoration work. Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Martinez Almeida has asked for the army to be sent to the Spanish capital to help deal with the emergency.

According to Sergey Pikin, director of the Energy Development Fund, the reason for the shutdown could be an external impact on the energy system. Due to the incident, a state of emergency was introduced in the country. Spaniards began posting videos on social media with empty shelves in stores and queues for drinking water. At the same time, powerbanks in the country rose in price to €12,550.