Electricity has been restored across nearly all of Spain and Portugal following one of the most severe power outages in European history, though the cause of the blackout remains under investigation. The disruption, which began Monday and lasted up to eight hours in several regions, crippled public infrastructure across the Iberian Peninsula. Subway networks, traffic lights, ATMs, flights, and mobile services were brought to a halt, creating widespread chaos for millions of residents and travelers.
Spain’s national electricity operator, Red Electrica, confirmed on Tuesday morning that more than 99% of the country’s energy demand had been restored. Portugal’s grid operator REN also announced that all of its power substations were back online. By midday, metro service had resumed in Madrid and Barcelona, although commuter trains in the Catalonian capital remained suspended due to what Rodalies Catalunya called “electrical instability.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez emphasized the urgent need to both stabilize the grid and uncover the root causes of the blackout, stating that “all potential causes” were being analyzed without ruling anything out. Speaking at a news conference, Eduardo Prieto of Red Electrica described two back-to-back “disconnection events” that preceded the outage. The company’s statement highlighted a “strong oscillation in the power flow” that resulted in a significant loss of energy generation.
Despite the scale of the outage, authorities ruled out both unusual weather events and cyberattacks. Spain’s meteorological agency AEMET found no abnormal weather conditions, and both Spain’s cybersecurity experts and the European Council reported no signs of digital sabotage. Nevertheless, Spain’s High Court announced it would investigate whether a cyberattack targeting critical infrastructure might still be a factor.
Industry insiders pointed to a technical vulnerability: the Spanish grid’s low operational inertia at the time of the outage. Without sufficient rotating mass—typically provided by traditional generators or industrial motors—the grid lacked the resilience to absorb sudden drops in generation. This could have triggered the cascading failures seen across the region and prolonged the time needed for full recovery.
The outage turned vital transportation hubs and venues into overnight shelters. In Madrid, hundreds of travelers spent the night at Atocha train station, supported by Red Cross volunteers. Similar scenes unfolded at Barcelona’s Sants station. At the Caja Mágica stadium, where the Madrid Open was taking place, 22 tennis matches were postponed due to the blackout, though play resumed on Tuesday with a packed schedule.
Rescue teams in Spain said around 35,000 people were evacuated from trains and underground stations during the outage. Airports, too, were temporarily shut down, adding to the disruption felt across the peninsula. In an unexpected ripple effect, remote communities in Greenland lost access to telecommunications services, as satellite links provided from Spain were knocked offline. Connectivity was restored by early Tuesday, according to Greenlandic telecom provider Tusass.
Though the lights are back on across the Iberian Peninsula, the search for answers continues. As one of the most serious electrical failures recorded in Europe, the blackout has prompted urgent inquiries into grid stability, system inertia, and the protocols required to prevent such failures in the future.
Source: Swifteradio.com
