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Authorities warned that the power outage could last into the evening in parts of Portugal, France and Spain.
Local media reported that authorities were investigating the cause of this outage which caused the rail system to be immobilised, flights to be delayed and traffic lights to go dark.
The data from the Spanish electricity company showed that the blackout that occurred after noon local time cut more than 10GW off the demand, which suggests that this was the largest in recent European history.
Reuters reported that in Portugal, where the outage was also felt, the national grid operator attributed the failure to a fault within the Spanish electrical network related to a rare atmosphere phenomenon.
In comments reported by the agency, Luís Montenegro, Portuguese prime minister, said that there was no indication the outage was a cyber attack, but added that “nothing is off the table”.
Spain’s operator, Red Eléctrica, said it had activated plans to restore supply in co-operation with businesses in the sector. In a broadcast on X it stated that it was investigating the cause of the problem.
Later, it stated that it was restoring voltage in the south, north and west of peninsula. This, it claimed, was crucial to slowly restoring the energy supply. The company warned that it would take up to 10 hours to restore full power.
Montel’s energy data expert said that by midday, all nuclear power stations in the country remained offline as they responded to the disruption.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez held a crisis meeting with top government officials as local media reported that the Spanish national cyber security institute was investigating the outage.
The power outage in Spain affected millions, including those living in Madrid and Barcelona. Meanwhile, the Portuguese grid operator claimed that the problem had affected the entire Iberian Peninsula.
Spain’s top traffic authority warned people not to drive because traffic signals were not functioning due to the power outage. The government said that it is unlikely that rail transport will resume during daylight hours.
Madrid saw a massive spillout of people onto the streets as shops, restaurants, offices, and metro stations were evacuated. At first, mobile phone coverage was also affected. Local media said some — but not all — hospitals were functioning as normal with the aid of backup generators.
Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the conservative leader of the Madrid regional government, called on Spain’s Socialist-led national administration to activate emergency plans “to allow the army to keep order, if necessary”.
As of mid-afternoon on Wednesday, nearly half the flights scheduled to depart from Madrid airport were delayed. In Lisbon, 159 delayed flights and 92 cancelled flights.
Aena which operates Madrid airport as well as 45 other airports across Spain said that they were relying on backup electricity supplies to run. They added that the extent of any delays would depend upon whether passengers and crews could reach the airports.
Spain’s electricity is generated by wind and sun power to the tune of 43 percent, but its grid and storage system hasn’t kept up with rapid changes in renewable energy.
Due to poor links with France, the country has been called an “energy isle” for many years.
The French grid operator RTE confirmed that some parts of France were briefly affected but that the power was quickly restored.
The Iberian Peninsula’s electricity grid was automatically disconnected at 12.38pm from the continental European power network, but was then reconnected one hour later.
RTE said it did not know the origin of the outage but was attempting to support the Iberian peninsula in restoring power. It believes the outage originated in the Iberian peninsula, not in France.
On Monday, parts of the Spanish National Grid website were down. The company calls itself the “backbone” of the electricity grid.
The European Commission has said that it is in contact with Spain and Portugal, as well as the grid operators of Europe “to understand the root cause and impact of this situation”.
Philip Georgiadis & Andy Bounds: Additional Reporting
