Power Restored in Spain and Portugal After Major Blackout
Madrid, Spain — After extensive blackouts affected millions across Spain and Portugal, normalcy is gradually returning. Traffic lights flickered back to life, trains resumed operations on most subway lines, and restaurants reopened their terraces on Tuesday, a day after the crisis struck.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that power was restored to over 95% of Spain by early Tuesday morning. In Portugal, all substations were confirmed operational by energy supplier REN, marking a complete recovery of the grid.
The cause of the blackout, which occurred Monday afternoon, remains unclear. Eduardo Prieto from Spain’s Red Eléctrica stated that while no cybersecurity threats or human error had been detected, the electrical system shut down following two power failures just seconds apart. This unusual event led to widespread outages across Southwestern Spain, affecting both countries.
Sánchez emphasized the government’s commitment to uncover the cause through a national technical analysis and cooperation with the European Commission. “Citizens must be assured that we will find answers and prevent future incidents,” he said.
Initial investigations suggest that a high-voltage connection disruption between France and Spain preceded the outage by approximately 30 minutes. Experts like Kristian Ruby from Eurelectric indicated that while the initial interruption was significant, it typically wouldn’t result in a systemic collapse without additional factors.
Despite the recovery, Tuesday saw lingering impacts: public transport was limited, and some schools were only partially operational. However, bustling scenes returned in Lisbon, where residents resumed daily activities in parks and businesses.
Reflecting on the ordeal, retiree Doroteo García expressed disbelief at the blackout, stating he survived on canned food while trapped in his apartment. As both countries aim for a full return to normalcy, further investigations will seek to prevent future occurrences.
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