Blackout in Spain: metro, factories, trains stopped…

At noon in Spain there was the most powerful failure in the power system. The blackout has affected millions of Spaniards, and blackouts have reached Portugal and France.

"The worst power outage in Spain's recent history has affected millions of citizens across the country, with the exception of the islands. Disruptions have paralyzed the normal functioning of infrastructure, mobile communications, roads — with widespread disruptions in the operation of traffic lights — train stations, airports, shops and buildings — hundreds of incidents in elevators are reported. There is still no official explanation for the power outages, although no option has been ruled out, including the possibility of a computer attack," the Spanish El Pais reports.

The Governments of Spain and Portugal is investigating a blackout, although there is still no official explanation for what happened, the newspaper notes.

According to the state-owned company Red Electrica, from 13.00 the voltage began to recover in the north and south of the peninsula, which is "the key to the gradual satisfaction of electricity supplies."

Blackout throughout Spain and in Portugal began to be recorded shortly after noon. The main Spanish electricity companies do not yet know the reasons for the outages. Rail traffic has stopped all over the country. Various airlines have reported disruptions at airports such as Madrid-Barajas and Barcelona-El Prat. Air traffic controllers reported regulating or reducing traffic in two major hubs of the peninsula: Madrid-Barajas and Lisbon.

"At the moment, the health care system is working, because hospitals have backup generators that can keep the main equipment running for several hours," the newspaper writes.

It indicates that in Madrid, metro traffic is interrupted due to the lack of electricity supply. In addition, 150 elevator incidents were recorded in the city, said the mayor of the capital, Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida. Meanwhile in At least 23 metro evacuations were carried out in Barcelona.

The massive power outage also paralyzed activity at the factories. As the newspaper was able to confirm, the Ford Almussafes automobile plant is currently left without electricity and with production lines completely stopped.

"The workers are scared, they don't know what happened," a company spokesman said. Truck manufacturer Iveco, which has factories in Madrid and Valladolid, also stopped the machines in anticipation of restoring power.

There are also power outages in Portugal. There is a lot of confusion at Lisbon Airport, El Pais continues.

Massive power outage in Spain and Portugal, according to some French media, only affected some areas in France. Cities such as Perpignan, according to the newspaper L'indépendant, experienced power outages from time to time.

"The entire EU energy system has felt a malfunction in Spain and In Portugal, there has been a drop in frequency across the continent," writes Bloomberg columnist Javier Blas in X.

He notes that Spain is sorely lacking power: "Rolling blackouts are going on all over the country. Official data show that the demand-consumption capacity is 10 GW, whereas before the blackout it was at the level of 26 GW.