Flights grounded, tennis matches suspended, millions in the dark: How power outage affected Spain and Portugal

Millions of people in Spain and Portugal were left struggling after a power outage left much of both countries as well as parts of southern France in darkness.

Trains were left halted, phones services down, ATM machines went offline and traffic lights were out across both countries earlier on Monday.

While some parts of Spain have seen power restored, Portugal’s power operator has said it could take up to a week to restore power completely across the country.

But what happened? What do we know?

Let’s take a closer look:

What happened?

The outage caused chaos in parts of Portugal and Spain.

Traffic lights stopped working, causing gridlock. Transport networks were halted, hospitals were left without power and people were trapped in the metro and in elevators.

In Madrid, hundreds of people stood in the streets outside office buildings and there was a heavy police presence around some important buildings, with officers directing traffic as well as driving along central atriums with lights.

Juan Muñoz, the owner of a butcher’s shop in the centre of Madrid, told EuroNews,

“I was very surprised, as I imagine everyone else was – nobody was expecting a thing like this.”

“We’ve taken all the meat and put it in the walk-in fridge, and have kept it shut to retain the temperature for as long as possible,” he said.

“We’ve no idea how long this will last. Listening to the radio, they say they don’t know. I’ve heard that in some areas, some power is starting to return. But we’ll see – if it’s a question of several hours, the chicken will be destroyed.”

Officials said the possibility that it was caused by a cyberattack had not been ruled out.

As per The Guardian, Spain’s government called a crisis meeting at Red Eléctrica to talk about “the worst power outage in the country’s recent history”.

The Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez attended the meet – as did the country’s finance, environment and transport ministers.

The government said it “is working to determine the origin and impact of this incident, and is dedicating all resources to resolve it as quickly as possible”.

In Madrid, the air was filled with the sound of police sirens and helicopters clattered overhead.

The towering Torre Emperador skyscraper in the Spanish capital was evacuated via stairs. Worried people tried desperately to reach their children’s schools as the cell signal came and went.

In a video posted on X, Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida urged the capital’s residents to minimise all travel and stay at their current locations if possible.

Airports reported delays. AENA, which manages 46 airports in Spain, reported flight delays around the country.

Tom McGilloway, 31, who is on holiday in Lisbon, told BBC, “It’s a strange vibe because everyone’s aware there is chaos and you can’t get public transport, no one knows what’s going on at the airport.”

“A lot of the restaurants and the shops can’t take payments because they have wired terminals, so it’s meant that everyone’s flooded out of main areas to a lot of the pop-up vendors.”

“If I need to book a hotel if the plane is cancelled, I don’t know how I can do it if payments are down,” he adds.

“My partner’s parents are trying to get petrol so they can pick us up to take us back to Alentejo but many petrol stations are closed or not taking payment. We might be stuck with no plan for where to stay tonight.”

Train services in both countries ground to a halt. Video aired on Spanish television showed people evacuating metro stations in Madrid and empty stations with trains stopped in Barcelona.

The Spanish Parliament in Madrid closed and play at the Madrid Open tennis tournament was suspended. Three matches were underway when power went down.

Spain’s traffic department asked citizens to avoid using their cars as much as possible due to the power outage, which has affected traffic lights and electrical road signage.

Barcelona’s streets filled with throngs of people on sidewalks, milling about in front of darkened stores and offices and exchanging information on what had happened.

In Portugal, a country of some 10.6 million people, the outage hit Lisbon and surrounding areas, as well as northern and southern parts. Portuguese police placed more officers on duty to direct traffic and cope with increased requests for help, including from people trapped in elevators.

Portuguese hospitals and other emergency services switched to generators. Gas stations stopped working.

Portugal’s National Authority for Emergencies and Civil Protection said backup power systems were operating.

Several Lisbon subway cars were evacuated, reports said. Also in Portugal, courts stopped work and ATMs and electronic payment systems were affected.

Portugal’s airport operator ANA said airports activated emergency generators which for now allows essential airport operations to be maintained at Porto and Faro airports.

“In Lisbon, operations are ongoing but with limitations. So far, there have been no impacts on Madeira and Azores airports,” it said.

As per BBC, power has been restored in some parts of Spain.

“We continue to work with all resources to achieve the restoration of supply as soon as possible throughout the entire territory,” Red Electrica was quoted as saying.

The outlet quoted a spokesperson for the firm as saying it could take the power firm between six and 10 hours to completely restore power across Spain.

Spain’s national railway firm Renfe said all services remain suspended “due to power outages”.

The countries have a combined population of over 50 million people. It was not immediately clear how many were affected. It is rare to have such a widespread outage across the Iberian Peninsula.

Households in the Basque region of southern France were without electricity for a few minutes on Monday as Spain and Portugal suffered a massive outage, French power grid operator RTE said in a statement.

RTE said that its teams had been mobilised to assist the Spanish grid operator, and 700 MW of Spanish consumption had already been restored via France by RTE.

RTE is in a position to increase its assistance to Spain to 950 MW as soon as the Iberian network is technically ready to receive it, the grid operator added.

What do we know?

Not much at the moment.

The inquiry about why the power went out across both countries is still on.

Red Eléctrica has declined to comment on the causes of the huge blackout.

Eduardo Prieto, head of operations at Red Eléctrica, told journalists it was unprecedented, calling the event “exceptional and extraordinary.”

The Portuguese National Cybersecurity Center issued a statement saying there was no sign the outage was due to a cyberattack.

“Such a widespread grid failure is extremely unusual and could be caused by a number of things: there could be a physical fault in the grid which brings down power, a coordinated cyber attack could be behind it, or a dramatic imbalance between demand and supply has tipped the grid system over the edge,” Taco Engelaar, managing director at energy infrastructure experts Neara told Euronews.

“If it’s a system fault, then the interconnectivity between different regional and national grids could be leading to the large footprint of outages we’re seeing today,” he added.

“The same goes for a cyberattack - lots of these systems are connected and share assets - taking down one could take down many.”

One Portuguese official said the problem appeared to be with the electricity distribution network in Spain.

Portugal’s government said the outage appeared to stem from problems outside the country, an official told national news agency Lusa.

“It looks like it was a problem with the distribution network, apparently in Spain. It’s still being ascertained,” Cabinet Minister Leitão Amaro was quoted as saying.

Portuguese distributor E-Redes said the outage was due to “a problem with the European electricity system,” according to Portuguese newspaper Expresso.

The company said it was compelled to cut power in specific areas to stabilise the network, according to Expresso.

Euronews quoted Portugal’s national electric company REN said as saying a fire on the Alaric mountain in southwest France that damaged a high-voltage power line could be a possible reason for the power cut

The European Commission said it was in contact with the authorities in Spain and Portugal and the European network of transmission system operators ENTSO-E to try to establish the cause of the outage.

European Council president Antonio Costa told BBC that there is no indication that this is the result of a cyberattack.

Power outages on this scale are rare in Europe.

In 2003 a problem with a hydroelectric power line between Italy and Switzerland caused a major outage across the whole Italian peninsula for around 12 hours.

With inputs from agencies