Massive power blackout hits Spain and Portugal

The worst power blackout in Spain’s recent history has affected, since noon local time, millions of citizens throughout the country as well as Portugal. The power cut has paralyzed the normal functioning of infrastructures, telecommunications, roads, train stations, airports, stores, and buildings. Hospitals have not been impacted as they are using generators. There is still no official explanation for the massive blackout. Authorities have not ruled out a cyberattack as both the Spanish and Portuguese governments investigate the cause. As of now, there is no “conclusive information” on what happened, said Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in an address from the Moncloa Palace, the seat of government in Spain.

“Specialists have not been able to determine what caused the sudden power outage, but they will,” said Sánchez late Monday evening. “This has never happened.”

Speaking around 11 p.m. local time, the prime minister said that 50% of electricity supply had been restored, but warned the national power grid could not say “with certainty” how long it would take before the situation returns to normal. “This has ever happened before,” he added. By 3 a.m. local time, the service had been reestablished for a little over 80% of the country.

At an earlier press conference on Monday,

“The causes are still being studied. It is better not to speculate,” said Sánchez, who added that no possibility has been ruled out. The prime minister asked citizens to reduce travel, to be informed only through official channels and to make a responsible use of their cell phones, with short calls and only those that are necessary. “It is a difficult day,” he admitted, “of tremendous impact and importance.”

Sánchez declared an emergency in Andalusia, Extremadura, Madrid, Galicia, Castilla-La Mancha and Murcia, the six regions that have requested the extra assistance. The State Security Forces and Corps also preventively reinforced their presence throughout Spain. Some 15,000 National Police Public Security officers and 15,000 Civil Guard agents were deployed. Reserve units remain on alert in case their intervention becomes necessary.

Electricity service was gradually being restored in areas of Catalonia, Aragon, the Basque Country, Galicia, Asturias, Navarre, Castile and Leon, Extremadura and Andalusia, according to Red Eléctrica, the public company that operates the national electricity grid in Spain. The grid operator was working with the main energy companies in the country, and was relying on interconnections with France through Catalonia and Morocco through Andalusia to restore supply in areas in the extreme south and north of the country. Sánchez thanked France and Morocco for their collaboration. As of 8:40 p.m. local time, power had been restored to several areas of the center of Madrid.

Eduardo Prieto, Director of Operations Services at Red Eléctrica, stated that full service recovery will take between six and 10 hours, which, if confirmed, would mean that power would be restored across the country between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. Prieto said that “a crisis of this severity has never occurred before.” Red Eléctrica reported that 35.1% of the forecasted demand had been restored by 8:35 p.m. “The first supplies were restored just a few minutes after the incident, and this percentage has been progressively increasing until we reach full restoration,” said Prieto.

The outage suddenly set Spain back to the 19th century. Traffic lights out of service, traffic jams forming across the country, pedestrians wandering around cities without public transportation, desperate families trying to communicate with their loved ones, passengers left stranded without trains or flights, canceled medical appointments, rescues underway in subway stations and elevators, lines forming outside small shops due to supermarket closures... These were some of the scenes left by the unprecedented event on Monday.

The urgency of the incident has led the authorities to make it the only topic on the agenda. Sánchez held a meeting at the Control Center of Red Eléctrica, where Deputy Prime Minister Sara Aagesen and several other ministers were also present. The National Security Council also met.

Red Eléctrica has also refrained from suggesting possible causes of the massive blackout: “There is no evidence regarding the cause of the incident, and we cannot speculate about its origin; everything will be analyzed in full detail,” stated Prieto. Likewise, the Vice President of the European Commission, Teresa Ribera, did not suggest a cause and noted that, after contacting Spanish and Portuguese authorities, “there are no indications that it was deliberately caused.” From Brussels, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, expressed her support for the Spanish authorities. The Prime Minister of Portugal, Luís Montenegro, told the press that the source of the failure lies within the Spanish grid, although the exact causes are still unknown.

Citizens from all Spanish regions and from Portugal reported widespread power outages shortly after noon. According to major Spanish electric companies consulted by EL PAÍS, no explanation has yet been provided for the blackouts. The Adif railway network experienced voltage losses, leading to the suspension of train traffic across the country. Renfe announced through its social media accounts that there has been no train movement or departures from stations since 12:30. Various airlines reported disruptions at airports such as Madrid-Barajas and Barcelona-El Prat as power supply was being restored. Air traffic controllers have reported traffic regulations or reductions at the two major hubs on the peninsula: Madrid-Barajas and Lisbon. Confusion reigns among airlines and travelers.

The blackout also continues to affect telecommunications. There are widespread problems making phone calls, and the WhatsApp messaging service is operating at reduced capacity. Major telecommunications companies like Telefónica and Masorange are investigating the situation and working to restore service as quickly as possible. The internet can work for a few hours without electricity, but not for much longer. While data centers are protected by their own backup generators, the network relies on intermediate systems that have a shorter autonomy.

Non-urgent medical interventions are suspended

Spain’s healthcare system is currently functioning, as hospitals are equipped with backup generators for power outages, which can keep essential equipment such as ventilators, heart monitors, and other vital medical devices running for hours. Although some facilities in certain areas may experience power loss, it should not affect critical care. A spokesperson for the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid explained that an emergency committee has been activated to make decisions depending on how long the electrical failure lasts, but emphasized that patient care is fully covered. At the 12 de Octubre Hospital in Madrid, where emergency systems have also been activated and power is available, a spokesperson indicated that surgeries already underway have continued, while those that had not yet started have been suspended for the time being, except for urgent cases. The Hospital del Mar in Barcelona is operating normally.

Due to the widespread blackout on the mainland, Spain’s Directorate-General for Traffic is asking the public to avoid using their cars except in cases of extreme necessity, due to the risk of accidents. “The lack of electricity supply prevents the operation of traffic lights and signage panels.” In some areas, police officers are manually directing traffic.

In Madrid, the Metro service has been suspended due to “external causes” related to the power outage, according to a message posted on X. Likewise, the Madrid Cercanías commuter rail network is out of service due to the lack of electricity. Additionally, 150 elevator incidents have been reported in the city, according to the mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida.

Factory lines come to a halt

In addition to infrastructure, commerce, and telecommunications, large industries are also struggling to continue their operations. Car manufacturers Seat and Ford have stopped their production lines. As this newspaper has been able to confirm, the Ford Almussafes car plant is currently without power and with the production lines completely stopped. “The workers are scared, they don’t know what has happened,” says a company spokesman. Truck manufacturer Iveco, which has factories in Madrid and Valladolid, has also stopped machines while waiting for the power to come back on.

The Spanish stock exchange (BME) confirms that it is operating normally and that there have been no interruptions in stock market operations. Sources from the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) indicate that “market infrastructures are functioning normally,” although it is possible that some financial institutions are experiencing connectivity issues that could prevent their clients from operating as usual.

Panorama in neighboring countries

In Portugal, the blackout is also widespread. At the Lisbon airport, thousands of passengers are left in a state of confusion following the power system failure. There has been no official explanation yet from the Portuguese government regarding the failure in the country’s electrical grid, which is also affecting the telecommunications network. Red Eléctrica Nacional, the company that manages distribution in the country, confirmed that this is a widespread failure across the entire territory and that they are investigating the causes. Minister Manuel Castro Almeida stated on the RTP television channel that a cyberattack cannot be ruled out, and that it may be impacting several European countries.

The massive power outage in Spain and Portugal, according to some French media, has only mildly impacted areas near the French border. Cities like Perpignan, according to the newspaper L’Indépendant, have experienced some brief power cuts. Beyond these areas, the country has not faced further disruptions.

Worst power outage in Spain’s history

The massive power outage is the most serious ever recorded in Spain, both because of its spread across the entire country — except for the Canary and Balearic Islands and the exclave cities of Ceuta and Melilla — and because of the number of people affected, which was practically the entire population.

The closest previous incident occurred on the afternoon of July 24, 2021, between 4:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. , when an electrical failure left hundreds of thousands of households without power in several areas of Spain for about 45 minutes. Madrid, Catalonia, Andalusia, Aragon, Navarre, the Basque Country, Castilla y León, Extremadura, and Murcia were the most affected regions at that time. The outage was caused by a fault on a “very high voltage” 400,000-volt line belonging to Red Eléctrica Española. The cause of the blackout was an incident involving a water bomber plane, which created a problem in the France’s very high-voltage network and led to the temporary disconnection of the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of Europe, according to REE.