Power has been restored across most of Spain and Portugal after a massive blackout plunged the Iberian Peninsula into darkness on Monday, crippling transport, halting daily life, and exposing vulnerability in Europe's energy network, reported Xinhua.
The worst power outage in the region's history left tens of millions without electricity and briefly extended into southern France. The incident has sparked a swift emergency response from European grid operators and ignited concerns about the resilience and security of the continent's interconnected power systems.
An investigation into the exact cause of the blackout remains underway.
SUDDEN GRID COLLAPSE
Spain's electricity grid operator, Red Electrica (REE), reported that the power failure began at 12:33 p.m. local time (1033 GMT) on Monday, when the country's transmission system abruptly lost 15 gigawatts of electricity - about 60 percent of national demand - in just five seconds. The drop caused what REE described as a complete voltage loss in the grid, or a "zero," effectively shutting down the system.
The cause of the sudden collapse has yet to be determined. Spanish authorities have not ruled out mechanical failure or human interference but said a cyberattack is considered unlikely. "All resources are being dedicated to solving this," REE said in a post on X shortly after the country was plunged into darkness.
By Tuesday morning, REE confirmed that normal operations had resumed across Spain's mainland.
WIDESPREAD DISRUPTIONS
The blackout left more than 35,000 passengers stranded on Spain's long- and medium-distance trains. Military personnel were deployed to assist with evacuations. Five deaths have been reported in connection with the outage.
Fernando Salcedo, a traveler from Madrid to Alicante, told Xinhua that he was aboard a train when it came to a halt. "We were stuck there for a while before the police evacuated us. I got home with no electricity or mobile service. Power came back around 1 a.m.," he said.
Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and Seville continued to experience major delays on Tuesday as displaced trains and backlogged traffic clogged major railway stations. Some stranded passengers had spent the night at the stations as services struggled to recover.
In Portugal, where the national grid is closely tied to Spain's, the impact was just as severe. Cities across the country, including the capital Lisbon, experienced sudden outages. Trams came to a halt in Lisbon's city center at midday on Monday, paralyzing traffic and forcing passengers to disembark.
Portugal's grid operator, Redes Energeticas Nacionais (REN), said 90 percent of the country's electricity had been restored by Tuesday evening. However, many banks, businesses and government offices remained partially offline. REN warned that Portugal is now relying primarily on domestic generation, and the situation remains fragile.
EUROPEAN RESPONSE
As the blackout unfolded, electricity grid operators across Europe responded with emergency support. France's RTE sent 1,500 megawatts of electricity over the Pyrenees - equivalent to the daily winter consumption of a city like Marseille.
RTE Executive Director Jean-Paul Roubin noted that Spain and Portugal are particularly vulnerable due to limited interconnections with other countries. "European solidarity in electricity is not an empty phrase," he told Le Figaro.
The blackout is taken as Europe's "wake-up call." In Denmark, authorities urged citizens to improve their home preparedness. Minister for Resilience and Preparedness Torsten Schack Pedersen stressed the need for households to be ready with essential supplies - such as drinking water and canned food - for at least 72 hours.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday that an excess of renewable generation was not to blame, noting that the failure also affected nuclear output. "This must not happen again," he said at a press conference, adding that national cybersecurity agencies are supporting the investigation. "We have questions, and we will answer them all."
The findings of the probe, Sanchez said, will be used to strengthen the resilience of Spain's power infrastructure and bolster regional energy coordination.