Power began to be restored to parts of the Iberian Peninsula late on Monday after a widespread outage brought most of Spain and Portugal to a standstill, grounding airplanes, halting public transportation, and forcing hospitals to postpone routine operations.
Spain’s Interior Ministry declared a national emergency, deploying 30,000 police officers nationwide to maintain order as the governments of both countries convened emergency cabinet meetings. Outages of this scale are exceptionally rare in Europe.
The cause remained unclear, with Portugal suggesting the issue originated in Spain, while Spain pointed to a break in its connection with France.
Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro stated there was “no indication” that a cyberattack was responsible for the blackout, which commenced around 1033GMT.
Nevertheless, rumors of potential sabotage circulated, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez reported speaking with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Sanchez indicated that the country experienced a loss of 15GW of electricity generation within five seconds, equivalent to 60% of the national demand. Technicians were working to determine the cause of this sudden drop, he said.
“This is something that has never happened before,” he emphasized.
Joao Conceicao, a board member of Portuguese grid operator REN, informed reporters that the company had not ruled out the possibility of a “very large oscillation in electrical voltage, initially in the Spanish system, which subsequently spread to the Portuguese system.”
“There could be a thousand and one causes; it’s premature to assess the cause,” he stated, adding that REN was in communication with Spain.
Spain’s grid operator REE attributed the disruption to a connection failure with France, leading to a cascading effect.
“The extent of the loss of power was beyond what European systems are designed to handle and caused a disconnection of the Spanish and French grids, which in turn led to the collapse of the Spanish electric system,” explained Eduardo Prieto.
Earlier in the day, parts of France experienced a brief power outage. RTE, the French grid operator, reported that it had moved to supplement power to certain areas of northern Spain after the outage occurred.
Power Restored
In Spain, power began returning to the Basque Country and Barcelona areas in the early afternoon, and to parts of the capital Madrid on Monday night. Approximately 61% of electricity had been restored by late Monday, according to the national grid operator.
Enagas stated that it had activated emergency systems to meet demand during the blackout, while Prieto indicated that returning systems to normal would take “several hours.”
In a video posted on X, Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida noted that city street lighting had not been fully restored, advising people to stay home and adding, “It is essential that the emergency services can circulate.”
Power was also gradually being restored to various municipalities in Portugal late on Monday, including the Lisbon city center. Grid operator REN reported that 85 out of 89 power substations were back online.
Shops and Metro Closed
The blackout had widespread consequences across the peninsula.
Hospitals in Madrid and Catalonia in Spain suspended all routine medical procedures but continued to attend to critical patients, utilizing backup generators. Several Spanish oil refineries were shut down, and some retailers, including grocery chain Lidl and furniture giant IKEA, closed their doors.
Portuguese police reported that traffic lights were affected nationwide, and the metro systems in Lisbon and Porto were closed, while trains were canceled in both countries.
“I just don’t know who to turn to. My daughter in Barcelona is giving birth. We’re going to miss the connection to get there,” lamented Angeles Alvarez, stranded outside Madrid’s Atocha railway station.
Sanchez stated on Monday evening that approximately 35,000 train passengers had been rescued from trains, while 11 trains remained stranded in remote areas.
Images from a Madrid supermarket showed long lines at checkout counters and empty shelves as people rushed to stock up on essential items, while play at the Madrid Open tennis tournament was suspended.
The Bank of Spain reported that electronic banking was functioning “adequately” on backup systems, although residents also reported that ATM screens had gone blank.
Traffic jams formed in Madrid city center as traffic lights ceased working, with individuals in reflective vests taking it upon themselves to direct vehicles at intersections. Local radio reported people trapped in stalled metro cars and elevators.
Many Spaniards opted to take a half-day off, gathering in streets and plazas for impromptu get-togethers or preparing meals by candlelight at home.
Internet traffic plummeted by 90% in Portugal and 80% in Spain compared to the previous week’s levels, according to Cloudflare Radar, which monitors global internet traffic.
Power outages of such magnitude are rarely seen in Europe. In 2003, a problem with a hydroelectric power line between Italy and Switzerland caused a major blackout across the entire Italian peninsula for around 12 hours.
In 2006, an overloaded power network in Germany caused electricity cuts across parts of Europe and as far as Morocco.
According to energy think tank Ember, approximately 43% of Spain’s energy comes from wind and solar power, with nuclear accounting for a further 20% and fossil fuels 23%.
