The supply of electricity was restored almost entirely in Portugal and Spain on Tuesday (29), one day after an unprecedented blackout caused inconvenience in both countries and in neighboring regions of Europe.
According to the Spanish operator Ree, around 6am local, 99.16% of the supply was already guaranteed in Spain. In Portugal, the service was also normalized, according to information from E-REDES and REN, which stated that the power grid is “perfectly stabilized”.
The blackout, which began at 7:33 am of Brasilia (11:33 in Portugal and 12:33 in Spain) on Monday (28), caused the sudden disappearance of 15 electric generation gigawatts, the equivalent of about 60% of Spanish demand at that time, as the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez explained in a statement in the Moncloa Palace. The causes are still under investigation, and no hypothesis has been discarded.
The power outage caused chaos in public transport in Madrid, with subway stoppage and congestion on the main roads. The resumption of electricity was received with applause and celebration in the streets of the Spanish capital.
In Portugal, hospitals even faced critical moments for the need for refueling of generators, but, according to the Portuguese Association of Hospital Administrators (APAH), the activities were normalized and the postponers are being reprogrammed. The National Guard also assisted fuel transport to nine hospital units.
Lisbon airport, which operated with manual check-in the day before, resumed operations, but also records 29 flight cancellations on Tuesday, according to Ana-Aeroportos. Among the affected companies are TAP, Ryanair, Easyjet, Delta and Emirates.
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In education, the Portuguese Ministry of Education guided the reopening of schools, and most of the establishments resumed activities normally, according to the president of the National Association of Grouping and Public Schools (Andaep).
The railway network in Portugal and Spain has returned to operate, but some long distance lines in Spain still face restrictions. In France, which also recorded brief failures in the system, the government reported that the risk of a widespread blackout is “much more unlikely” due to its energy mix of nuclear and renewable sources.
France also helped mitigate the problem by sending 2,000 megawatts of energy to Spain via electrical interconnections with Catalonia and the Basque country.
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The Portuguese authorities reported that the country “is linked to normal”, with 6.4 million clients already supplied, according to the Minister of Presidency, António Leitão Amaro. Only 800 customers remained without power for causes of the incident.
Both Portugal and Spain confirmed that the origin of the blackout is not completely clarified. Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said the failure appears to have been caused by a strong oscillation of tension in the Spanish network, which eventually affecting the electrical connection between the two countries.
The Portugal National Cybersecurity Center said in a statement that there was no evidence that the interruption of energy was caused by a cyber attack.
