On Monday 28th April, the daily lives of millions were seriously disrupted by a large and unprecedented power outage. The outage, which started around noon, left millions without electricity, influenced metro networks, telephone lines, traffic lights and ATMs. Officials are still investigating the cause of the outage, with initial reports showing problems in the European electricity network.
Power failure has left capitals, including Madrid and Lisbon, in the dark. The Spanish public broadcaster RTVE announced that the outage began shortly after noon, causing extensive disturbances. Metro stations, the Spanish parliament in Madrid and many parts of the country were affected. The graph on the website of the Spanish network showed a sharp decline in demand, from 27,500 MW to almost 15,000 MW around 12:15 local time.
In Portugal, the capital of Lisbon, together with northern and southern regions, experienced quite outages. “It looks like it was a problem with a distribution network, apparently in Spain,” said Portuguese Cabinet Minister Leitão Amaro.
The E-Redes energy distributor confirmed that the outage was associated with the European electrical system that forced them to reduce energy in specific areas to stabilize the grid.
Transporting Chaos: Trains and Metro have stopped
The outage stopped all trains across Spain and had passengers stuck, while the metro systems in Madrid and Lisbon were also closed. “The power carving stopped trains across the country,” said the Spanish railway operator ADIF. In Lisbon, metro cars were evacuated and disrupted led to delay and abolition at airports, including Madrid’s Barajas International.
The game at the Madrid Open tennis tournament was suspended due to the power cut, while the television shots showed empty metro stations and trains stuck in tunnels. The Spanish traffic department urged motorists to stay off the roads, because many traffic lights ceased to operate, causing considerable overload.
Emergency measures and efforts to restore energy
Since more than 50 million people have influenced the power outage, the authorities quickly worked on energy to restore. The Spanish electricity operator Red Eléctrica announced that the energy was restored in the parts of the north and south of the country. “We continue to work to bring back strength,” the company said, adding that a complete recovery could take six to ten hours.
In Portugal, backup systems in hospitals and emergency services were activated, while the police were deployed for direct operation. The Portuguese authorities have confirmed that petrol stations, as well as ATM and electronic payment systems were affected. “Several incidents” occurred at airports throughout Spain, with passengers stuck and disrupted services.
Possible causes: European grid or fire in France
The cause of power failure remains unclear. The Spanish Red Eleéctrica grid operator did not presented on the cause, but recognized this event as “exceptional and extraordinary”. The Portuguese authorities proposed that the problem arise from the network of electricity distribution in Spain. “This seems to be a problem with the European electrical system,” E-Redes spokesman said.
In addition, the news from France suggests a possible reference to the fire in the southwest of France, near Alaric Mountain, which damaged the high -voltage electric line between Perpignan and Narbonne. This has not been confirmed as a direct cause, but it is considered a factor in contributing.
Ongoing investigation
The Spanish and Portuguese governments organized an emergency session to monitor the situation. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the headquarters of the Red Eléctrika to update the efforts to recover. In Portugal, the cabinet convened to assess the situation and a coordinating reaction.
The exact cause of the outage remains investigated, the authorities are trying to restore the power of attorney in both countries. Black also influenced parts of France, and reports suggest that citizens in Andorra and some areas of Belgium have experienced outages.
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Efforts to settle with a outage
In the absence of electricity and mobile networks, many inhabitants in Spain and Portugal turned to radio for news updates. “People came to the streets that held their smartphones and tried to connect to the net,” said AFP reporters in Madrid and Barcelona. Meanwhile, industrial cities in Spain have increased demand for generators because residents were looking for alternatives to deal with the continued disturbance of power.
The National Emergency Office and Civil Protection in Portugal confirmed that backup energy systems were functional in critical services, but the challenges continued when the country was working to restore full electricity into affected areas.
(With AFP inputs, ap)
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