A massive power outage struck Portugal, Spain, and even part of southern France on Monday, grinding transport and everything else to a halt in cities like Lisbon and Madrid. By population, that’s more or less like if California and Florida both went entirely dark at the same time.
“REN confirms a massive cut in the electricity supply across the entire Iberian Peninsula, which is also affecting part of French territory, with an impact in Portugal starting at 11:33 AM,” according to Rene Electrica Nacional, Portugal’s grid operator. The cause of the blackout is unclear so far, though authorities have said there is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point.
With subways and other transport options in big cities shut down, traffic jams snarled across the peninsula. Photos showed spectators at the Madrid Open, part of tennis’s clay court season on the run-up to the French Open, wandering the grounds in darkness; play was suspended for at least a day. Long lines descended on supermarkets, where down payment systems and panicked shoppers caused chaos.
As of just after 7 pm local time, the Spanish grid operator Red Electrica (REE) said that more than one-fifth of “peninsular demand” has been restored so far, with some help from electricity imported from France. “The power supply is being progressively restored in all electrical zones of the territory,” REE said, “with 45% of the substation parks in the transmission network already energized.”
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said that power has been restored in particular to parts of the north and south of the country; in the meantime, he urged people to act “responsibly.”
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