A huge and unprecedented power failure Monday struck large parts of Spain as well as Portugal. The power failure has interrupted the metro and rail trains, cut the telephone service and closed traffic lights and automatic ticket distributors for millions of people who live through the Iberian Peninsula in Europe.
The Spanish food distributor Red Eléctrica said that restoration of energy in the country could take up to 10 hours. As the night fell, only some 35% of Spain’s energy capacity had been restored, according to public service. The capital of Portugal, Lisbon, remained without electricity, while electricity returned to some 750,000 customers in the country, according to the operator Ren, who said that the situation was to normalize “shortly”.
Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro expected the power to be restored by the end of the day.
The power failure strikes the Spanish capitals and Portugal
The breakdown also struck the Spanish capital, Madrid. The offices closed and the traffic was scolded while the traffic lights stopped working. It was not possible to make calls on certain mobile phones networks, although some applications work. In Barcelona, residents entered stores looking for battery radios and civilians led traffic to junctions along the Gran via the avenue that crosses the city.
The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that a problem in the European grid he described as a “strong oscillation” was at the origin of the failure, but that the cause was still determined. The Spanish chief asked the public to refrain from speculation and said that no theory on the cause of the failure had been rejected.
Ren, the Portuguese network operator said that a rare atmospheric phenomenon in Spain from extreme temperature variations was behind the massive failure, according to the Reuters news agency. The Portuguese National Cybersecurity Center published a statement saying that there was no sign that the failure was due to a cyber attack.
Red Eléctrica refused to speculate on the causes of the power failure. Eduardo Pieto, operations manager at Red Electrica, told journalists that he was unprecedented, calling for the “exceptional and extraordinary” event. In the middle of the afternoon, the tension was gradually restored in the north, south and west of the peninsula, said the company.
Electricity was taken from Morocco and France to restore the power of southern and northern Spain, said Sanchez, thanking their governments. Spain also increased the production of hydroelectric and combined thermal power plants.
Sánchez summoned an extraordinary meeting of the Spanish National Security Council and visited Red Eléctrica to follow the restoration efforts for grid operations. The Montenegro said that he had spoken several times in Sánchez. The Portuguese cabinet summoned an emergency meeting at the Prime Minister’s residence.
Reuters / Susana Vera
Countries have a combined population of around 60 million people. It was not immediately clear how assigned were. It is rare to have such a widespread breakdown in the Iberian peninsula.
The Canary Islands of Spain, the Balearic Islands and the territories of Ceuta and Melilla, located on the other side of the Mediterranean in Africa, were not affected by the failure.
The Government of Portugal said that the breakdown seemed to come from problems outside the country, said an official of the national news agency Lusa.
“It seems that this is a problem with the distribution network, apparently in Spain. It is still checked,” said the Minister of the Cabinet Leitão Amaro.
The Portuguese distributor E-Redes said that the breakdown was due to “a problem with the European electrical system”, according to the Portuguese Journal Expresso. The company said that it had been forced to reduce power in specific areas to stabilize the network, according to Expresso.
Blackout is the second serious European power sale in less than six weeks after a fire on March 20 Stop Heathrow Airport In the United Kingdom and intervenes as the authorities through Europe against sabotage supported by Russia.
The public broadcaster of Spain, RTVE, said that a major power failure has struck several regions of the country just after local time at noon, leaving its editorial room, the Spanish parliament in Madrid and metro stations across the country in darkness.
Some people have been trapped in elevators or inside garages and 286 rescue operations were carried out to release people trapped inside the elevators in the Madrid region, regional authorities said.
A graphic on the website of the Spanish electricity network showing demand across the country indicated a steep drop around 12:15 p.m. of 27,500 megawatts to nearly 15,000 megawatts.
Spanish airports operated on emergency electrical systems and certain flights have been delayed, according to Aena, which manages 56 airports in Spain, including Madrid and Barcelona.
In Lisbon, the terminals closed and crowds of tourists were seated outside the sun and in the shade, awaiting news from their flights.
“We have not seen any plane arriving or leaving in the 50 minutes we were waiting for here,” Dutch tourist Marc Brandsma told the Associated Press.
Training services in the two countries stop. The video broadcast on Spanish television has shown that people evacuating metro stations in Madrid and empty stations with trains arrested in Barcelona. The Spanish Minister of Transport, Oscar Puente, posted on the social platform X that it would not be possible to restart the trains later Monday, even if the power returned.
Javier Soriano / AFP via Getty Images
The Madrid Open tennis game was suspended. Three games were underway when Power dropped.
The Spanish traffic service asked citizens to avoid using their cars as much as possible due to the power failure, which affected traffic lights and electrical signaling.
The streets of Barcelona fill up with crowds of people on the sidewalks, moving in front of the dark stores and offices and exchanging information on what had happened.
“We are lucky. Some people have been trapped in the metro. And there is a positive side: we are talking more with each other,” said Monste Cortés. She said dinner would be sliced bread and cold cuts.
Immediate concerns were telephone companies that still had at least unequal coverage, or where Internet access could be found. Another concern was how to get home with the metro and the packaged public buses. Some took advantage of the lack of connectivity and transport to enjoy the sun on the restaurant terraces.
In Terrassa, an industrial city 30 miles from Barcelona, the stores selling generators were out of stock after people aligned themselves to buy them.
Parties of France have also been briefly affected, according to Reuters. The operator of the French network RTE said that he was working to provide energy to certain parts of northern Spain.
In Portugal, a country of 10.6 million people, the breakdown struck Lisbon and its surroundings, as well as the regions of the north and southern country. Portuguese police have put more officers in service to direct traffic and cope with increased help requests, including people trapped in elevators.
Hospitals and other emergency services in Spain and Portugal have gone to generators. Service stations have stopped working.
The national authority of Portugal for emergencies and civil protection said that the emergency electricity systems worked.
Several Lisbon metro cars have been evacuated, according to information. Still in Portugal, the courts arrested work and automatic tickets of tickets and electronic payment systems were assigned.
contributed to this report.