Spain without power – what caused the massive blackout?

Yesterday, shortly after 12:00 noon, 15 gigawatts of electricity vanished from Spain’s power grid, according to the newspaper El Mundo. The massive blackout also affected Portugal, and its consequences are far-reaching. With Spain plunged into darkness, communication chaos ensued, and media outlets began speculating about the possibility of cyberterrorism.

Black Monday on the Iberian Peninsula

At exactly 12:33 PM, the Spanish power grid—managed by Red Eléctrica de España—lost 60% of its capacity for five seconds. This enormous power loss brought trains, subways, elevators, and all high-energy-consuming equipment to a halt. Earlier, at 11:30 AM, the Portuguese power grid had also reported a major blackout. Outages were additionally reported in southwestern France. The Iberian power network was almost immediately disconnected from the rest of Europe.

The power outage was especially severe in large cities like Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon. Offices, shops, and restaurants were plunged into darkness, and metro passengers were evacuated from stations. Thousands of train travellers were forced to spend the night at railway stations and sports halls.

Traffic lights, payment terminals, and numerous websites—including government services—stopped working. With Spain in the dark, the threat of looting and robberies loomed large, prompting the Ministry of the Interior to deploy 30,000 additional police officers to patrol the streets.

Situation slowly returning to normal

By yesterday afternoon, Spain’s power operator began gradually restoring electricity to the northern and southern parts of the country. The process was conducted step-by-step to avoid dangerous overloads. This morning, El Mundo reported that 99.5% of the population can now access electricity normally. Some metro and train lines remain closed but are expected to resume service during the day.

In Portugal, the situation is slightly more difficult. The local energy distributor, REN, announced that full normalization of power supply could take up to a week. However, Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro assured citizens this morning that 80% of the population has already regained access to electricity. Water supply systems are operational, schools and healthcare facilities are open, though transport disruptions are still expected.

The economic impact remains uncertain. Spain’s association of self-employed workers, ATA, has issued a preliminary estimate of €1.3 million in losses for its members due to the blackout.

Spain without power – was it a terrorist attack?

This Iberian blackout is an unprecedented event in modern European history, prompting numerous questions, suspicions, and accusations. On Monday, the President of Andalusia, Juanma Moreno, publicly suggested that the energy catastrophe was the result of cyberterrorism. However, Spanish government officials quickly distanced themselves from this theory. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez urged people to refrain from jumping to conclusions until the facts are known.

Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro suggested that the problem originated in Spain and was most likely caused by a rare weather phenomenon. According to Portuguese energy distributor REN, significant temperature differences triggered oscillations in high-voltage lines and disrupted grid synchronization. Georg Zachmann, a researcher at the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel, stated that a cascading failure in connections between power plants caused the transmission frequency to fall below European standards. Such disturbances can arise for various reasons, one being the increasing use of renewable energy sources (RES), whose output is variable and unpredictable.

At this moment, the exact cause of the catastrophe that left Spain and Portugal without power remains unknown. However, representatives of the European Commission and the Council of Europe have publicly declared that there is no evidence of deliberate sabotage of the power grid.