Report: Big blackout in Spain, Portugal could take 6-10 hours to fix
The massive power outage that has hit Spain and Portugal, causing chaos on Monday across the Iberian Peninsula, will take another six to 10 hours to repair, the Spanish newspaper El País reported, citing Spain’s electricity grid operator.
The company, Red Eléctrica, said in social media posts from 3:32 pm (1332 GMT) that power had been restored to substations in several areas in the north, south and west of the peninsula.
“We are continuing to work with all available resources to restore power as soon as possible throughout the entire territory,” the posts said. The key goal at the moment is to supply power to the generation units.
Railway company Renfe said that the entire Spanish national power grid had failed at 12:30 pm (1030 GMT), causing trains to halt.
The cause of the outage has not been announced.
According to El País, the INCIBE cybersecurity authority is investigating the incident and has not ruled out a cyberattack.
Reporters from dpa in Madrid and Barcelona confirmed the outage across both cities, with the Madrid Open tennis tournament also suspended.
Infrastructure, phone networks and traffic were all affected, as traffic lights turned off and lifts became stuck.
Spain’s Health Ministry said hospitals were not as severely hit thanks to backup generators.
In neighbouring Portugal, there was a blackout in several areas, broadcaster RTP reported.
Spain’s Canary and Balearic Islands were not affected, while a power outage in neighbouring Andorra lasted only a few seconds before the grid was automatically reconnected to the French grid, operator FEDA said on X.
Parts of France’s Basque region were also affected for a shor time before power was restored.
The European Commission said it is in contact with Spanish and Portuguese authorities.
“The commission is in contact with the national authorities of Spain and Portugal … to understand the underlying cause and the impact of the situation,” a spokeswoman said in Brussels.
“There are protocols in place to restore the functioning of the system,” she added.
