A widespread and unexplained power outage knocked out electricity in most of Spain and Portugal on Monday, shutting off traffic lights and causing chaos at airports, train stations and on the roads.
Portugal’s grid operator Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN) said electrical supply was lost across the entire Iberian peninsula, and in parts of France, on Monday. It could be several hours until power is fully restored, Spain’s grid operator said, meaning parts of the two countries could be plunged into darkness once the sun sets.
The outage took out screens, lighting and power sockets, and caused traffic lights and subway systems to suddenly fail. Some power began to trickle back across Spain hours later, but efforts to fully revive the grid and to investigate the cause have not yet been successful.
The cause of the blackout was unclear, but its impact was dramatic: transport hubs shuttered and governments in both countries, which share a population of around 60 million people, hastily co-ordinated a response.
Madrid’s mayor José Luis Martinez Almeida asked people to minimize their movements and only call emergency services if it was truly urgent. He also called on people to stay clear of the roads for emergency workers. Later in the day, Madrid’s emergency services provider urged the country’s government to declare a national emergency.
Portugal’s grid operator said restoring power was a “complex operation.”
“At the moment it is impossible to predict when the situation will be normalized,” it said.
Efforts could stretch into the night. “The experience of other similar events that have taken place in other countries indicate to us that this process – the total reestablishment of the electrical supply – will take several hours, Eduardo Prieto, director of services for system operation at Red Eléctrica, had earlier told broadcaster La Sexta.
“We could be talking about six to 10 hours, if everything goes well, until we reestablish supply to every last customer,” he said.
Dozens of Iberian cities, like Madrid, Lisbon, Barcelona, Seville and Valencia, are major hubs for transport, business and tourism. Two of the five busiest airports in the European Union in 2023 were Madrid’s and Barcelona’s, according to EU data.
Portugal’s National Institute for Medical Emergencies said it had “activated its contingency plan,” running its telephone and IT systems through a back-up generator. Spain’s health ministry said the same process happened in hospitals there.
But flights at major airports in the region were suddenly delayed or cancelled, with travelers scrambling to adapt; online flight trackers reported that several airports saw their frequent departures suddenly halted after midday. Portugal’s flag carrier TAP Air Portugal told people not to travel to the airport until further notice.
Spanish train operator Renfe said trains had stopped and departures were canceled. And in subway tunnels, passengers were plunged into darkness. Video posted on social media showed blackened subway cars stuck in standstill on platforms in Madrid, where the metro was suspended and entrances to stations were taped off.
Sporting events were impacted too. Tennis fans at the Madrid Open filed out of courts after the outage caused play to be suspended.
Some parts of southern France, near the Spanish border, felt a more sporadic impact.
This is a developing story and will be updated.