Power Outage Disrupts Spain, Portugal, Parts of France

Spain and Portugal experienced a widespread power outage on Monday that also affected parts of France, according to the Portuguese national grid operator REN. The disruption began at approximately 11:33 a.m. local time (6:33 a.m. ET).

REN confirmed that recovery efforts were underway. "All plans are being activated to restore the electricity supply in stages, in coordination with European energy producers and operators." Red Eléctrica de España informed that full restoration could take between six and 10 hours. 

The governments of Spain and Portugal held emergency meetings to address the outage. In Portugal, the Council of Ministers convened at the prime minister’s residence. In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that the National Security Council held an extraordinary session at 3:00 p.m. local time.

Portugal's National Cybersecurity Center reported no evidence of a cyberattack, according to the state news agency LUSA. However, Portuguese Minister Manuel Castro Almeida told broadcaster RTP that a cyberattack affecting several European countries could not be ruled out.

The outage severely impacted daily life and infrastructure. In Spain, rail services, including high-speed and commuter trains in Madrid, Valencia, and Catalonia, were halted. Authorities closed major road tunnels, such as the M-30 in Madrid, and urged residents to avoid unnecessary travel.

Air travel was also disrupted, with delays reported at airports and particularly at Lisbon Airport, where thousands of passengers were affected. Telecommunication services experienced widespread issues. Companies such as Telefónica and Masorange are investigating the causes while working to restore services. Messaging services like WhatsApp were operating intermittently, and experts warned that although data centers have backup systems, prolonged outages could significantly affect internet connectivity.

Industrial production was also hit. Automakers Seat and Ford stopped production lines, while the petrochemical complex in Tarragona activated a safe shutdown. "The workers are scared; they do not know what happened," a spokesperson for Ford's Almussafes plant, which also halted operations, said. Truck manufacturer Iveco suspended operations at its Madrid and Valladolid factories pending the restoration of electricity.

Despite the widespread disruptions, the Spanish stock exchange (BME) confirmed it operated without interruptions. Spain’s securities regulator, CNMV, also reported that "market infrastructures are functioning normally," although it acknowledged that some financial entities could experience connectivity issues.

Hospitals in Portugal continued operations using backup generators. The cause of the blackout remains under investigation, and energy companies are working to gradually restore service across the affected areas.