Europe's power puzzle: Unprecedented outages hit Spain and Portugal
The European Commission is maintaining contact with the national authorities of Spain and Portugal, as well as the European operators responsible for electricity transmission (ENTSO-E), to understand the cause of the power outage in these countries and its consequences, an EC spokesperson informed.
The European Commission also announced that it will continue to monitor the situation and ensure a smooth exchange of information among all interested parties.
The EC spokesperson, Paula Pinho, also assured that according to existing EU regulations, such as the emergency code and network recovery code, protocols are in place to restore the functioning of the system.
On Monday, around 12:30 am, mainland Spain and parts of Portugal were affected by a major power outage. In Madrid and Lisbon, traffic lights and the metro were among the systems rendered inoperative, and rail services were halted in both countries. Disruptions were reported at airports. In Portugal, the power outage disrupted operations at some hospitals.
Network operator: Unprecedented situation
In Spain, the power grid operator began restoring electricity in the south and north of the country after 2 pm. Power supply interruptions also affected parts of France.
On Monday, the network operator Red Eléctrica reported that while the cause of the widespread power grid failure in Spain remains unknown, the incident ranks as the most serious of its kind in the country's history.
The company estimates that restoring the network's functionality may take 6-10 hours. Eduardo Prieto, a representative of the operator quoted by Reuters, cautioned that the restoration of the power grid depends on many factors that may change.
Red Eléctrica emphasized that it's too early to speculate about the cause of the outage. The Spanish government reported that it is working to determine the cause. The French power grid operator RTE stated that it is cooperating with its counterpart in Spain.
