Spain and Portugal restore power systems after largest blackout
Photo: Large-scale blackout in Europe (Getty Images)
Spain and Portugal are restoring their power systems after the largest blackout that hit both countries. The massive outage left millions of people without electricity, communication, and transportation, according to The Guardian.
On Monday evening, the Iberian Peninsula was gripped by an unprecedented energy crisis, with Spain and Portugal plunging into darkness almost simultaneously.
The lights went out in cities, trains stopped, mobile communications went dead, and millions of people were left without access to the Internet.
By Tuesday morning, according to the REE network operator, power was restored to 90% of Spain.
Restoration of power
In Portugal, 6.2 million households out of 6.5 million have been restored to electricity. Power has been restored in Madrid, Lisbon, and other major cities.
However, the source of the accident is still unclear. Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro suggested that the failure could have originated in Spain.
At the same time, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called for avoiding premature conclusions and spreading misinformation: "All potential causes are being analysed and no hypothesis or possibility is being ruled out."
Earlier, the Portuguese operator REN said that the accident could have been caused by a rare atmospheric vibration caused by extreme temperature changes. It allegedly led to a power system outage and a failure in the entire European power grid.
The outage peaked at 12:33 p.m. local time, when about 15 gigawatts of electricity - 60% of the country's total consumption - disappeared within five seconds.
This was enough to disrupt transportation, telecommunications, hospitals, and financial systems.
State of emergency
Hundreds of people were stuck in elevators and trains. Thousands were trapped in dark subway tunnels with their phones as flashlights.
In Madrid, where the situation was particularly acute, the authorities urged people to stay put so as not to interfere with the work of emergency services.
Prime Minister Sanchez thanked France and Morocco for their urgent assistance in supplying electricity. Gas and hydroelectric power plants are partially covering the deficit. Additional police and National Guard forces have also been deployed to the streets.
At present, telecommunications are still unstable, rail service is partially paralyzed, and some trains are still stuck in remote areas.
The Spanish government has introduced a level 3 state of emergency in eight autonomous communities.
The reason remains a mystery, but the authorities promise to find out as soon as possible.
Blackout in Europe
On Monday, April 28, several European countries experienced large-scale power outages, which resulted in power cuts for millions of people.
According to reports, a large-scale blackout occurred in Spain on Monday at 12:30 p.m. local time, when electricity consumption plummeted from 25,184 megawatts to 12,425 megawatts.
