A massive power failure crippled Spain and Portugal around noon today, disrupting public transportation and causing flight delays.
The reason for the blackout is still unclear.
The governments of both European Union countries have called for emergency cabinet meetings in response to the outage, which also had caused a brief chaos in certain areas of France.
In Spain, outages were reported in cities such as Seville, Barcelona, and Pamplona, with further interruptions occurring in Valencia. Metro operations in Madrid and Barcelona were halted, necessitating the evacuation of passengers from trains who had to walk along the tracks, as shown in videos shared online.
Communication lines were reportedly down throughout much of Spain, and Madrid’s main airport experienced a loss of power.
Hundreds of people gathered outside office buildings in the streets of Madrid, accompanied by a significant police presence around essential structures, who were managing street traffic and monitoring central atriums with illumination, as reported by witnesses.
A major tennis event in Madrid has been halted due to the power outage while Spain’s Channel 6 has persisted in broadcasting despite the lack of light.
Network disruptions have also been reported in Portugal and parts of southern France, according to local news sources.
Spain’s national grid operator indicated that a ‘major incident’ within the energy transmission system might have triggered the blackout. Power companies have announced that they are feverishly working to restore services as swiftly as possible.
Isabel Diaz Ayuso, the president of Madrid’s regional government, has requested that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez permit the deployment of the military if necessary.
She stated that the national government should implement Plan 3 to enable the Army to restore order if required.
Reports indicate that Sanchez is on an urgent visit to the headquarters of Red Electrica, the operator of the national grid, as officials strive to ascertain the cause of the outage and determine swift solutions.
During a press conference, Red Electrica’s CEO, Eduardo Prieto, mentioned that the power restoration process might require ‘between six and ten hours.’
The Portuguese grid operator, Redes Energeticas Nacionais (REN), has indicated that it is premature to ascertain when power will be completely restored.
REN stated, ‘At this time, it is still impossible to predict when the situation will be normalized,’ and noted that it has ‘all resources deployed’ to address the outage.
Senior European Commission Vice-President Teresa Ribera informed Spanish Radio 5 that there is currently no evidence suggesting that the blackout resulted from a deliberate act, such as sabotage or a cyberattack.
