A mass electric blackout affects, from 12 noon, thousands of citizens from all over Spain, except the islands, and Portugal, which has paralyzed the normal functioning of infrastructure, communications, train stations, airports, shops and buildings. There is still no official explanation to supply cuts, without ruling out any option, including a computer attack. The Spanish and Portuguese government are investigating the cuts with different technical teams from several ministries, although there is still no official explanation to what happened. According to Red Eléctrica, the public company responsible for the connections, works from the initial moment in its solution. The National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE) is also studying the situation in case it was a cyber attack, although for now they do not have a conclusion.
The third government vice president, Sara Aagesen, is currently moving to the electricity grid control center to clarify the circumstances that are affecting the electricity supply. Redeia points out that “electricity supply replacement plans have been activated in collaboration with companies in the sector after zero that occurred in the peninsular system”, as indicated by the company in the Social Network X. “The causes are being analyzed and all the resources are being dedicated to solve it,” they add.
Citizens of all Spanish and Portugal autonomous communities have reported shortly after noon lack of electricity supply, which has partially recovered for a few minutes, but has returned soon. From the main Spanish electrical companies, consulted by the country, they have not yet given a reason that justify the blackouts.
The Canary Islands and Balearic Islands have not been affected in principle, according to El País journalists. The Canary Islands has six isolated systems, one by island. They are isolated from peninsular Spain and among them. In the case of the Balearic Islands it consists of two separate systems: Mallorca-Menorca and Ibiza-Formentera. They are interconnected among them, but also with the peninsula with an underwater cable.
The peninsula blackouts have affected communications, airports, high -speed transport networks of both Spain and Portugal. Also traffic lights and shopping centers have been affected.
In Portugal, the blackout is also widespread. In the Lisbon airport there is a great bewilderment among thousands of passengers after the fall of the electrical system. Nor is there from the Portuguese administration for the moment any official explanation about the country’s electricity network, which is affected by the telecommunications network. Nacional Electrica, the company that manages the distribution, confirmed that it is a generalized failure throughout the country and that it is trying to find out the causes.
Infrastructure in the peninsula suffer the consequences of the blackout. The Adif rail network has registered tension losses, which has motivated the interruption of traffic traffic throughout the country. Different airlines have reported interruptions in airports such as Madrid-Barajas while recovering the electricity supply.
In Madrid, the Metro service is interrupted by “foreign causes” due to lack of electricity supply, as reported in a message from the social network X. At the moment the service in the Cercanías network of Madrid is also out of service, due to lack of electric fluid.
The Spanish Stock Exchange (BME) confirms that it is operating normally and that at no time have there been interruptions in the stock market operation. Sources from the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) point out that “market infrastructure is working normally”, although there are financial entities with connectivity problems that prevent normal operational for their customers.
[Noticia de última hora, habrá ampliación en breve]
