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An unprecedented power outage has left millions of people in Spain and Portugal without power, also affecting Andorra and parts of southern France. The power outage, which began around 12:30 p.m. on Monday, April 28, caused chaos in critical infrastructure, paralyzed public transportation, and cut off large areas of the country. According to Red Eléctrica de España, the incident was due to a very significant loss of power generation and a sharp fluctuation in power flow, which caused the Spanish electricity system to be disconnected from the rest of Europe. Although the magnitude of the event was acknowledged, the exact causes are still under investigation, and no clear timeline for restoring power has been provided due to the complexity of the process. The impact was immediate and widespread: high-speed and commuter trains ground to a halt, subways in cities like Madrid, Barcelona, ??and Seville were inoperable, and out-of-service traffic lights caused traffic chaos. In Barcelona, ??the Guardia Urbana (Urban Guard) deployed officers to control critical intersections, while in Seville, the airport operated normally despite the failure of some screens and systems that were being restarted. Hospitals activated emergency generators to maintain essential services, and pharmacies and health centers temporarily closed. Communications were also affected: mobile phone coverage and internet access were drastically reduced, leaving many people without communication. The blackout disrupted major sporting events, such as the Masters 1000 Madrid Open at the Caja Mágica, where matches were suspended and the venues were left in darkness, causing confusion among attendees. The organizers activated emergency protocols and rescheduled the matches for the following day. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who called an emergency meeting of the National Security Council to address the crisis, declared in a televised appearance that same Monday that at 12:33 p.m., 15 gigawatts of generation were suddenly lost from the system in five seconds. He explained that this represents 60% of the energy being consumed in the country at the time. By 11:00 p.m., 50% of the power supply had been restored, although full recovery was estimated to take between six and ten hours. Authorities have not ruled out any hypothesis regarding the causes of the blackout. While Red Eléctrica attributes the incident to a loss of generation and fluctuations in power flow, the Portuguese operator REN suggested that extreme weather events could have caused the outage. The National Intelligence Center, for its part, ruled out the possibility of a cyberattack. Industry experts maintain that this blackout has highlighted the vulnerability of electrical infrastructure and the need to strengthen the resilience of the energy system. |
