3 minutes agoEnergy supplies restored to most of Spain and Portugal
Periskopi(a year ago)
(a year ago)The power supply returned to most of Spain and Portugal on April 29th after a massive power outage hit the Iberian Peninsula, leaving passengers stranded on trains and hundreds of elevators, while millions were left without signal on their phones and without internet access. Energy operator REE said [...]
Energy operator REE said that electricity had been restored to more than 90 percent of the territory in mainland Spain in the early hours of Tuesday. Lights were restored in Madrid and Portugal's capital city.
Almost no corner of the peninsula, which has a common population of nearly 60 million people, escaped the blackout. Still, it is not known why there was power outages, although rumors on social networks spread that there had been a cyberattack.
Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said the source of the break-up “is likely in Spain”. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that “all possible causes” are being analysed and warned the public that “not speculate”, due to the risk of “dezination”.
Sanchez said that about 15 gigaves of electricity, more than half of the consumption at the moment, “suddenly disappeared” within about five seconds.
The Spanish prime minister was unable to say when energy would be fully restored to Spain and warned that some workers would have to stay home on Tuesday. Portuguese Prime Minister Montenegro said that energy in Portugal would return “within several hours”.
About 6.2 million out of 6.5 million families in Portugal were refueled at night, the national power grid operator said.
The power cuts affected even southwest France for a short time, while several internet operators and airport registration systems broke out in Morocco.
Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez said Monday's mid-day electricity cuts caused serious “cutback” and <x2 million economic losses in businesses, companies and industry”.
The European Commission said it was in contact with Spain and Portugal over the blackout. Meanwhile, European Council President Antonio Costa wrote on X that “has no indication of any cyberattack”.
Power cuts triggered the cancellation of many flights from Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon, according to the European air traffic organisation Eurocontrol.
Other countries around the world have also faced massive blackouts.
There were power cuts in Tunisia in September 2023 in Sri Lanka in August 2020 and in Argentina and Uruguay in June 2019. India had also faced a massive blackout in July 2012.
In Europe, November 2006, 10 million people were without power for an hour in France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain. The break was due to network problems in Germany. / REL/
