Massive power outage brings most of Spain and Portugal to a standstill

The Spanish government has declared a state of emergency that would be applied in the regions that request it, following a huge power outrage that struck Spain, Portugal and parts of France on Monday.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Monday that a problem in the European grid that he described as a “strong oscillation” caused the blackout, but that the cause was still being determined.

The Spanish leader asked the public to refrain from speculation and said no theory about the cause of the outage had been discarded.

Sánchez thanked the governments of France and Morocco where energy was being pulled from to restore power to north and southern Spain.

The blackout brought much of Spain and Portugal to a standstill Monday, halting subway and railway trains, cutting phone service and shutting down traffic lights and ATMs for millions of people across the Iberian Peninsula.

Power in Spain progressively coming back by evening

Spanish power distributor Red Eléctrica said that restoring power fully to the country and neighbouring Portugal could take 6-10 hours.

By mid-afternoon on Monday, voltage was progressively being restored in the north, south and west of the peninsula, the company said.

By Monday evening, power had been restored to approximately 20% of the country’s affected capacity.

Red Eléctrica declined to speculate 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.