A large portion of Spain and Portugal, along with smaller parts of France and Andorra, have been affected by a widespread and unprecedented power outage that seems to have started in the afternoon.
European Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera said that “at this stage” there are no indications of deliberate action (such as sabotage or cyberattacks) behind the outage. The Portuguese provider REN links the outage to a failure in the Spanish electricity network, related to a “rare” atmospheric phenomenon tied to extreme temperature fluctuations within Spain. These fluctuations appear to have caused “synchronization failures between electrical systems, leading to successive disruptions across the interconnected European grid.”
The outage has caused chaos at airports, trains, metro systems, and on the roads, while ATMs, traffic lights, and telecommunications have also been affected. Local and state authorities have urged citizens to avoid unnecessary travel by car.
In Spain, electricity has started to return to the northern and eastern parts of the country, with full restoration expected in 6-10 hours, according to statements from the Spanish electricity provider Red Eléctrica, made late in the afternoon.
A senior EU official stated that there are no signs of deliberate action (e.g., sabotage or cyberattack) behind the outage.
A video shown on Spanish television showed people evacuating subway stations in Madrid and empty stations with stopped trains in Barcelona, while the Madrid Open tennis tournament was also interrupted.
The Portuguese government stated that the issue appears to be related to factors outside the country, while the Portuguese electricity provider E-Redes mentioned a “problem with the European power grid,” according to the Portuguese newspaper Expresso.
Portuguese police added officers to assist with traffic issues and address the increased demand for help, including from people trapped in elevators, while hospitals and other emergency services in the country used generators.
