Sharp swings in power caused a network outage that left most of Spain and all of Portugal in the dark on Monday, making it the worst blackout in Europe in years. The outage was widespread, affecting major cities and causing disruptions to daily life. Offices closed, and traffic was snarled in major cities, with civilians directing traffic in some areas. Train services in both countries stopped, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded. Courts stopped work, and ATMs and electronic payment systems were affected. The outage even impacted sporting events, with tennis stopping at the Madrid Open in Spain.
The power outage occurred shortly after 12:30 p.m. local time, with the blackout impacting public transport, airports, and phone services. Data from Red Electrica, the grid operator, showed power demand in freefall shortly after noon, dropping more than 10 gigawatts — more than a third of the country’s total electricity usage for the day. The sudden outage caught out millions of people, causing widespread disruptions and chaos. While some areas across Spain gradually came back online in the afternoon, restoring all supply in the country was expected to take until at least the evening, according to Red Electrica.
Head of operations Eduardo Prieto told journalists that the event was unprecedented, calling it “exceptional and extraordinary.” By 8:35 p.m., only 35% of energy demand had been restored, Prieto said hours later. The outage was due to sudden changes on the network, known as “oscillations,” said Eduardo Prieto, the company’s director of services, declining to comment further on the causes. The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity said that the investigation seemed to point to a technical or cable issue, but added that it was “closely monitoring” the situation and was in contact with national and EU authorities.
The outage was not limited to Spain and Portugal, with households in the French Basque Country suffering a blackout for a few minutes until electricity was restored. French grid operator RTE said it had supplied 700 megawatts of power to Spain and was ready to raise that to 950MW once the network was able to receive it. The outage came as authorities across Europe gird against sabotage backed by Russia, and it was the second serious European power outage in less than six weeks after a March 20 fire shut down Heathrow Airport in the U.K.
A countrywide blackout is very unusual for any European country. In 2003, Italy saw the worst power cut in more than half a century when a breakdown of electricity lines from neighboring countries impacted the whole country, except for the island of Sardinia. In 2019, a major outage hit London when a gas plant and an offshore wind farm went offline almost simultaneously. The cause of the current outage is still under investigation, but an excess of solar generation in the grid could have contributed to the incident. Spain has reported an unprecedented number of hours with negative power prices in recent months as more solar and wind power gets injected into the grid.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Deputy Prime Minister Sara Aagesen held an emergency meeting at the headquarters of Red Electrica as they sought answers. “I ask all people in Madrid to absolutely minimize movement,” JosĂ© Luis MartĂnez-Almeida, the city’s mayor said in a statement on social media. “The traffic lights are down at the moment, and it’s essential that emergency services can circulate.” At this stage, a cyber attack hasn’t been entirely ruled out, according to people familiar with the situation. Investigations are ongoing as authorities work to restore the network.
Public transport, traffic lights, and phone services were mostly down in parts of Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon due to the outage, while trains were mostly halted. The main Madrid airport cautioned that it was experiencing a high degree of delays. Dylan Fraser, a US national from Virginia, went to the airport in Lisbon to catch a flight back home only to be informed that his flight had been canceled and the airport was closed. “They told us we had to leave,” he said as he sat at the bar of the Sofitel Hotel in downtown Lisbon. “I have no idea when I will be able to go back.”
The outage had a significant impact on daily life, with companies sending workers home and the streets of major cities quickly filling with people as police directed traffic. In Madrid, the metro was evacuated, and office workers filled the city’s financial district, while ambulances raced through the main thoroughfare Castellana Avenue, where traffic agents used speakers on cars to direct vehicles and people. ATMs in the city center were not working. “This is very weird and unsettling,” said Ana López, who works at the Castellana financial area and was exiting her office building after her employer sent all staff home.
The Canary and Balearic Islands were unaffected by the outage, but on mainland Spain, the effects were widespread. People were forced to find alternative ways to navigate the city, with some using candles for light and others relying on generators for power. The outage was a significant disruption to daily life, and it will likely take some time for the country to fully recover. The investigation into the cause of the outage is ongoing, and it is likely that there will be a thorough review of the country’s power grid to prevent such an event from happening again in the future.
In conclusion, the power outage that affected Spain and Portugal was a significant event that had a major impact on daily life. The cause of the outage is still under investigation, but it is clear that it was a complex issue that involved a combination of factors. The outage highlights the importance of having a reliable and resilient power grid, and it is likely that there will be a thorough review of the country’s power infrastructure in the coming months.
FAQs:
Q: What caused the power outage in Spain and Portugal?
A: The cause of the outage is still under investigation, but it is believed to have been caused by sudden changes on the network, known as “oscillations.”
Q: How many people were affected by the outage?
A: The outage affected millions of people, with the entire country of Portugal and most of Spain experiencing a blackout.
Q: How long did the outage last?
A: The outage lasted for several hours, with some areas experiencing a longer outage than others. It is expected to take until at least the evening to restore all supply in the country.
Q: Was the outage related to a cyber attack?
A: At this stage, a cyber attack hasn’t been entirely ruled out, according to people familiar with the situation. Investigations are ongoing to determine the cause of the outage.
Q: How did the outage affect daily life?
A: The outage had a significant impact on daily life, with companies sending workers home, public transport and traffic lights disrupted, and phone services affected. The outage also caused disruptions to airports, with flights canceled and delayed.
