Spain, Portugal suffered a large-scale power outage, rolling power outage – Country

Spanish electricity distributor Red Eléctrica said it could take 6-10 hours to restore power to much of the country after a massive and unprecedented disruption on Monday.

The company refused to speculate on the cause of the power outage. The National Cybersecurity Centre in Portugal issued a statement saying there was no sign of it being caused by a cyber attack.

Eduardo Prieto, head of operations at Red Eléctrica, told reporters that this was unprecedented, calling the event “excellent and extraordinary”.

Disruptions in Spain and Portugal, including its capital, eliminated subway networks, telephone lines, traffic lights and ATMs.

Authorities say the reason is not immediately known, although a Portuguese official said the problem appears to be on Spain's electricity distribution network.

The Portuguese cabinet held an emergency meeting at the Prime Minister's residence, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the electricity distributor Red Eléctrica to follow efforts to restore grid operations.

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The total population of these countries exceeds 50 million. It is not clear how many affected are. Such widespread disruptions are rare on the Iberian Peninsula.

A few hours later, Spain's power network operator said it was reclaiming electricity in the northern and southern peninsula, which would help to gradually restore power supply across the country.

An official told the National News Agency that the Portuguese government said the power outage appears to be due to problems outside the country.

“Obviously in Spain, this seems to be a problem with the distribution network,” said Cabinet Secretary Leitão Amaro.

Portuguese newspaper Expresso said Portuguese distributor E-Redes said the power outage was due to “an issue with European power systems.” According to Expresso, the company said it was forced to cut power in specific areas to stabilize the network.

Spain's public broadcaster RTVE said that after noon local time, a massive power outage hit several parts of the country, its newsroom, Spain's parliament in Madrid and subway stations across the country were in the dark.

A graph displayed on the Spanish Electric Power website shows that national demand shows a drop from 27,500 MW to around 15,000 MW at around 12:15 p.m.

Videos aired on Spanish TV show people evacuated the metro station in Madrid and stopped trains in Barcelona.

The match was suspended in the Madrid Open tennis match. Three games are being played when the power is lowered.

Spain's transportation department requires citizens to avoid using as many cars as possible due to power outages, which affects traffic lights and electrical road signs.

In Terrassa, an industrial town of 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Barcelona, ​​stores selling generators were out of power after people lined up to buy.

Portugal's electronic celebrity said parts of France were also affected.

In a country with about 10.6 million people, power outages hit the capital, Lisbon and surrounding areas, as well as the northern and southern regions. The Portuguese police have put more and more officials in charge of directing traffic and coping with more requests for help, including those trapped in the elevator.

Portuguese hospitals and other emergency services turn to generators. The gas station stopped working and the train stopped running.

The Portuguese National Emergency and Civil Protection Agency said the backup power system is in operation.

The report said several Lisbon metro vehicles were evacuated. Also in Portugal, the courts stopped working and ATMs and electronic payment systems were affected. Traffic lights in Lisbon stopped working.

Although some apps are working, it is impossible to make calls on the mobile network.

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