Spain, Portugal re-turns power, seeking answers after one of Europe's worst disruptions
After massive cuts affecting the entire Iberian Peninsula, nearly all of Spain and Portugal’s electricity was restored Tuesday morning, but the cause of the blackout remains a mystery.
In some areas, the widespread power outage lasted about eight hours and shut down subway networks, ATMs and traffic lights while destroying Monday's flights and mobile communications.
The country's electricity operator Red Electrica said that by 7 a.m. local time, the country's electricity operator Red Electrica said more than 99% of Spain's energy demand had recovered. Portuguese grid operator Ren said all its power substations were back online.
As life begins to return to normal – schools and offices reopening, easy transportation and public transport restart – Spanish authorities have not provided further explanations, one of the worst power outages ever caused in Europe.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his government's priorities were twofold: Restore the country's electrical systems and find the cause of the blackout, so similar incidents “will never happen again.”
“We are analyzing all potential causes without discarding any assumptions,” Sanchez said.
Such extensive power failures have little precedent in the Iberian Peninsula or Europe.
People were stranded outside Madrid train station on Monday as a grand power outage frenzy, delaying flights and causing widespread traffic congestion.
Eduardo Prieto, director of system operations services at Spain's power operator, pointed out two steep, back-to-back “disconnect incidents” ahead of Monday's blackout. He said in a press conference Tuesday that more investigations are needed to understand why they happened.
Red Electrica noted in a statement Monday night that “strong oscillations in the electric current” triggered “very significant loss of power generation.”
Sources who know directly about the industry say that at the time of interruption, the Spanish grid has little “inertia” running, an energy that moves with a rotational mass as large as a generator or some industrial motor.
When demand or produces a sudden drop or increase, inertia helps stabilize the mesh by reducing the rate of frequency change.
“In those cases [when there is little inertia] If production drops for any reason, the grid will be lost [more] Inertia and everything fail. In a power outage, you need to rebuild the inertia and then put things back online, which takes several hours. ” The source said requesting anonymity.
No abnormal weather events or signs of cyberattacks
Spain's Meteorological Agency AEMET said it did not find any “abnormal meteorological or atmospheric phenomena” on Monday and did not record sudden fluctuations in temperature at its weather stations.
The National Cybersecurity Centre in Portugal on Monday dismissed speculation about a foul game, saying there was no indication that the power outage was caused by a cyber attack.
European Council President Antonio Costa also said that “there is no sign of cyber attack”. Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-Chairman of the European Commission, ruled out sabotage but stressed that “the power outage is the worst episode recorded in recent Europe”.
Although Red Electric also ruled out cyber attacks, the Spanish High Court said it would conduct an investigation to determine whether “Computer vandalism” that could have been carried out on Spanish infrastructure.
“Electric Instability” affecting Barcelona Metro
The Caja Mágica Tennis Complex has restored electricity, and the Madrid Open resumed a timetable full on Tuesday, with 22 games postponed thereafter.
At Spain's largest train station, the traveler's little guy waits for the train or rebooks a cancelled or destroyed trip on Tuesday morning.
At the Atocha station in Madrid, hundreds of people stand near the screen waiting for updates. Many people spend the night at the station, wrapped in blankets provided by the Red Cross. A similar scene was played at Sante Station in Barcelona.
By 11 a.m. local time, on Tuesday, the Madrid Metro system services had been fully restored. In Barcelona, the system is working properly, but the commuter train has been suspended due to “electrical instability”, Rodalies Catalunya, the company of the service, said on X.
Spain's first responders said they had rescued about 35,000 passengers on Monday, stranded along the railway and underground, and turned to sports centers, railway stations and airports for temporary overnight stays.
Meanwhile, remote areas of Greenland have been cut off from vital satellite channels due to power outages in the Iberian Peninsula – but Greenland telecom company Tusass said on Tuesday that services had resumed overnight.
Tasas said on Monday it lost connection to Spain's satellite equipment that provides telephone, internet, television and broadcast services.
