Yesterday, a sudden power outage impacted millions in Spain and Portugal, disrupting communications, halting metro systems, and causing delays for travelers in airport departure areas.
This morning, electricity has been restored across Spain, approximately 18 hours after the initial blackout. The Madrid Metro is operating normally, and residents in the Spanish capital cheered as power returned.
This is considered one of the most significant power outages in European history, the largest since a three-hour outage affected 57 million people.
What is believed to have caused the outage?
During Monday’s sudden outage, Portugal’s grid operator suggested that a possible cause could have been an astrological phenomenon.
However, Spain’s meteorological agency reported no such phenomena occurring across the country, nor any sudden temperature fluctuations.
European Council President António Costa stated on Monday afternoon that there were “no indications of external causes.”
This conclusion aligns with the assessment from Red Eléctrica, Spain’s national grid operator, which indicated that the outages began on Monday. Two separate power outage incidents led to grid instability, resulting in a “breakdown in interconnections with France” and isolating the Iberian grid.
On Tuesday, Red Eléctrica dismissed the possibility of a cyber-attack as the cause.
Investigations are ongoing by Portuguese and Spanish grid operators and cybersecurity teams, but the cause of the outages remains unclear.
Kristian Ruby, secretary general of Eurelectric, a trade body, stated that a full technical analysis to understand the outage could take weeks or even months.
What was affected?
The outage on Monday impacted various sectors, from sports to transportation, affecting tens of millions of people. Tennis star Coco Gauff’s post-match interview was interrupted as systems went down at the Madrid Open.
Metro services and trains were also stopped in both countries, along with traffic systems in several cities. In Madrid, members of the public offered rides to others when public transport was suspended.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that his government will “demand accountability from private operators” in response to the outage, while also urging caution against spreading misinformation about the causes at this time.
Sánchez emphasized that determining the cause was essential to prevent a similar event from “ever taking place again.”
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