Major Power Outages Plague Spain and Portugal

On Monday, power outages affected millions in Spain and Portugal, halting traffic, disrupting services, and causing economic fallout as authorities investigated the cause.

Millions experienced significant disruptions due to widespread power outages in Spain and Portugal on Monday, which left people in both countries without electricity for hours and impacted various services. Streets were thrown into disarray as traffic lights darkened, and trains halted their operations, creating frustrating delays during the workday. Long queues formed at ATMs and grocery stores as credit card transactions ground to a halt.

As of now, the cause of the outages remains under investigation. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez confirmed that authorities are actively looking into the situation, while E-Redes, Portugal’s national electricity supplier, cited an unidentified “problem in the European electricity grid” as a potential reason for the malfunction. António Leitão Amaro, a senior official in Portugal, stated that there is no evidence suggesting a cyberattack was involved. Additionally, REN, a Portuguese energy supplier, has denied claims linking the outages to any “atmospheric phenomenon.”

The widespread outages led to serious challenges, disrupting operations in hospitals and banks across both nations. Communication difficulties were reported, particularly affecting internet and mobile phone usage, prompting Prime Minister Sánchez to advise citizens to limit phone calls to conserve battery life and network capacity. As the investigation continues, residents remain anxious about the dependability of their power supply and the potential for further disturbances in the near future.