Power Returns to Spain and Portugal; Some Disruptions Continue

Power has been restored across most of Spain and Portugal after a major power outage disrupted travel in both countries Monday, impacting millions of people and leading Spain to declare a National Emergency.

Long-distance train service isn’t expected to resume until at least today (Tuesday) as impacts on travel continue. With flights delayed or cancelled across airports in both countries, the impacts are expected to continue throughout the week as airlines play catch-up with their schedule.

Two of Europe’s busiest hubs are Madrid and Barcelona and the area is also a hotbed for tourism. TAP Air Portugal has advised travellers to not go to the airport until further notice.

Power outages of this magnitude are extremely rare in Europe.

As reported by Reuters, Spain’s Interior Ministry declared a national emergency, deploying 30,000 police across the country to keep order as governments from the two countries convened emergency cabinet meetings.

Officials are working to discover the cause of the failure, which is said to have created a ripple effect from Spain to Portugal.

Joao Conceicao, a board member of Portuguese grid operator REN, told reporters the company had not ruled out the possibility of a “very large oscillation in electrical voltage, first in the Spanish system, which then spread to the Portuguese system”.

“There could be a thousand and one causes, it’s premature to assess the cause,” he said, adding that REN was in contact with Spain.

Spain’s grid operator REE blamed a connection failure with France for triggering a knock-on 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,” Eduardo Prieto said.

Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said there was “no indication” a cyberattack had caused the blackout.