What Triggered Massive Blackouts In Spain, Portugal And France?

A major blackout affected most of Spain and parts of Portugal around noon on Monday, disrupting power and phone lines. Public transport, traffic lights, and phone services were largely down in Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon, with train services also mostly halted.

Reports suggest problems with the European electric grid are the cause.

Red Electrica, Spain's power grid operator, stated it is collaborating with energy companies to restore power after the outage, which is reported to have impacted Barcelona, Seville, Lisbon and other cities.

The exact cause remains unclear, but emergency meetings were held in both Spain and Portugal after the outages.

According to Euronews Portugal, trains became stuck in tunnels between stations, trapping several passengers in the metros in the capitals of Portugal and Spain.

According to a report by Reuters, Portuguese police confirmed that trains are not operating, the metro is closed in both Porto and Lisbon and traffic signals are impacted nationwide.

A French operator reported that southwest France experienced a brief power outage, which was quickly restored. Meanwhile, the European Union stated it is in contact with Spain and Portugal to investigate the cause of the blackout.

The exact cause of the massive power outage in Spain and Portugal remains unknown. However, according to local media, national networks across the Iberian Peninsula were affected by issues with the European power grid. Another possible cause is a fire on Alaric Mountain in southwest France, which damaged a high-voltage power cable between Perpignan and eastern Narbonne.

Many shops, restaurants and businesses in Madrid were left completely dark with internet services also disrupted.

Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE reported that the blackout began around 12:30 pm local time, affecting critical infrastructure, including Spain’s Parliament, metro stations across the country, and RTVE’s own newsroom. In Barcelona and nearby towns, residents filled neighbourhood WhatsApp groups with blackout reports.

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