Power outages affect Spain and Portugal

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The rare mass blackout occurred on Monday and brought parts of Spain and Portugal to a standstill.
The power outage grounded planes, halted public transport and caused panic buying.
Power has started returning in some parts of both countries.

Power has started returning to parts of Spain and Portugal after a huge outage brought parts of both countries to a standstill, grounding planes, halting public transport, and forcing some hospitals to suspend routine operations.

Spain’s interior ministry declared a national emergency and governments from the two countries convened emergency cabinet meetings as officials tried to find out what caused the mass blackout, which began around 8:30pm AEST on Monday.

Officials said the reasons for the blackout were unclear, with Portugal’s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro saying there was “no indication” a cyberattack was the cause.

In Spain, power started returning to the Basque country and Barcelona areas in the early afternoon, and to parts of capital Madrid on Monday night (local time).

Passengers at Madrid Airport. Planes were grounded in Spain and Portugal by the power outage. Source: AP / Manu Fernandez

Power was also gradually returning to various municipalities in Portugal late on Monday (local time), including Lisbon city centre.

“We do not yet have conclusive information on the reasons for this (power) cut,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a national address, adding that there had been no signs of any security issues.

Madrid, Andalusia and Extremadura have asked for the central Spanish government to take over public order and other functions.

A person next to a generator outside a building

A generator powers a meat shop during the massive power outage in Pamplona, northern Spain. Source: AP / Miguel Oses

In Portugal, electricity distributor REN said it had restored production at a hydroelectric and thermoelectric plant, and was prioritising supply resumption to hospitals and transport.

It was possible the blackout had been caused by a “very large oscillation in electrical voltage, first in the Spanish system, which then spread to the Portuguese system”, REN board member Joao Conceicao told reporters.

Hospitals, shops, transportation affected

Hospitals in Madrid and Catalonia in Spain suspended all routine medical work but were still attending to critical patients, using backup generators.

Several Spanish oil refineries were shut down, and some retail businesses closed in both countries, including grocery chain Lidl and furniture giant IKEA.

Portuguese police said traffic lights were affected across the country and the metro was closed in Lisbon and Porto, while trains were cancelled in both countries.

“I just don’t know who to turn to. My daughter in Barcelona is giving birth. We’re going to miss the connection to get there,” said Angeles Alvarez, stranded outside Madrid’s Atocha railway station.

A queue of people in darkness in a store

People queue to pay in cash at a supermarket during the power outage in Pamplona. Source: AP / Miguel Oses

Images from a Madrid supermarket showed long queues at tills and empty shelves as people rushed to stock up on staples.

The Bank of Spain said electronic banking was functioning “adequately” on backup systems, though residents also reported ATM screens had gone blank.

Parts of France also suffered a brief outage. RTE, the French grid operator, said it had moved to supplement power to some parts of northern Spain after the outage hit.

A group of people stand outside a bus with police officers surrounding

Police controls passengers trying to catch buses at Oriente transportation hub during the power outage in Lisbon. Source: AP / Armando Franca

Spanish radio stations said part of the Madrid underground had been evacuated, and play at the Madrid Open tennis tournament was suspended.

There were traffic jams in Madrid city centre as traffic lights stopped working, with people in reflective vests standing at intersections to direct traffic.

Hundreds of people stood outside office buildings on Madrid’s streets and there was a heavy police presence around key buildings, according to a Reuters witness.

Local radio reported people trapped in stalled metro cars and elevators.

Such widespread outages are unusual 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.

In 2006, an overloaded power network in Germany caused electricity cuts across parts of Europe and as far as Morocco.

About 43 per cent of Spain’s energy comes from wind and solar power, with nuclear accounting for a further 20 per cent and fossil fuels 23 per cent, according to energy think tank Ember.