Major outages across Spain and Portugal on Monday (local time) left millions without power for several hours.
The blackouts disrupted public transport, flights, card payments, the internet and phone lines, and traffic in both countries.
Power is gradually being restored across the region, as authorities work to determine the cause of the outages.
Outages
Around 9.30pm AEST (11.30am in Portugal, 12.30pm in Spain), the power suddenly cut out across most of the Iberian Peninsula, which covers Spain, Portugal, and southern France.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told media supply to approximately 60% of the country’s power grid dropped out in five seconds.
The outages caused major disruptions to critical infrastructure, bringing Spain and Portugal’s metros to a standstill, delaying flights, and causing traffic jams because the lights had gone out.
Cause
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Spain and Portugal’s power operators said the cause of the outage is under investigation.
Portugal’s main provider, REN, said temperature shifts in central Spain affected power lines, causing electrical systems to fall out of sync with each other, leading to the outage.
Spanish authorities have yet to announce any details about the exact cause.
Response
A state of emergency was announced in some regions of Spain, meaning federal authorities temporarily took control.
Portugal placed more police on duty during the outage to assist affected communities.
The full power restoration will only be completed gradually, as authorities restore power intermittently to avoid overloading the grid.
