A massive power outage hit Spain and Portugal on Monday, causing widespread disruptions to daily life.
The outage started at around 9:33 AM local time, knocking out power for millions of people.
Services were severely impacted – all train services stopped, and most hospitals switched to backup generators.
Airports grounded flights, and public transportation came to a halt.
Emergency services were quickly deployed to maintain order.
Restoring Power
By Tuesday morning, Spain’s national grid operator, Red Eléctrica, reported that 99% of the country had power restored.
Portugal’s grid operator, REN, said most households in Lisbon, the capital, had electricity back.
REN’s CEO, Joao Conceicao, explained that they managed to restore power to 85 out of 89 substations.
Some areas still faced difficulties, but progress was being made.
Causes and Concerns
The exact cause of the outage remains unclear.
Spain blamed a technical issue with its connection to France’s grid.
Red Eléctrica stated that the sudden loss of 15 gigawatts of power – about 60% of Spain’s demand – overwhelmed the system.
Portugal’s Prime Minister, LuÃs Montenegro, said there’s no evidence of a cyberattack, but speculation about sabotage has circulated.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez discussed the incident with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
Government Response
Spain declared a state of emergency to maintain public order.
30,000 police officers were deployed across the country.
Affected regions, including Madrid, Andalusia, and Extremadura, requested federal assistance.
The government is working to restore full services and investigate the cause.
The situation is slowly returning to normal, with most services expected to resume soon.
The investigation into the cause is ongoing, with officials working to prevent similar incidents in the future.