CHEERS erupted across Spain and Portugal on Monday night as electricity finally flickered back to life following a colossal blackout that plunged the Iberian peninsula into darkness.
The major outage brought two nations to a grinding halt — grounding flights, crippling public transport, knocking out hospitals, and shuttering stores from Lisbon to Barcelona.
The cause of the massive blackout, which began around 10.33am UK time, remains unclear.
Spain’s Interior Ministry declared a national emergency and deployed 30,000 police to maintain order as both governments held emergency cabinet meetings.
“This is something that has never happened before,” said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
About 61% of Spain’s power was restored by Monday night, with electricity returning first to the Basque Country, Barcelona, and parts of Madrid.
In Portugal, grid operator REN confirmed 85 out of 89 substations were back online, including the capital Lisbon.
On the streets, people celebrated. Some cooked meals by candlelight, others flocked to plazas in impromptu gatherings, and supermarket shelves were stripped bare as residents rushed to stock up.
But what caused both countries to plunge into darkness is still unknown.
“There could be a thousand and one causes, it’s premature to assess the cause,” said Joao Conceicao, a board member of Portugal’s grid operator REN.
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He suggested, however, the blackout may have begun with a “very large oscillation in electrical voltage, first in the Spanish system, which then spread to the Portuguese system”.
Spain’s grid operator REE pointed to a connection failure with France.
“The extent of the loss of power was beyond what European systems are designed to handle and caused a disconnection of the Spanish and French grids, which in turn led to the collapse of the Spanish electric system,” said REE’s Eduardo Prieto.
Pedro Sanchez revealed Spain lost 15GW of electricity in just five seconds – equivalent to 60% of the country’s demand.
“Technicians were working to figure out why that sudden drop occurred,” he said.
Despite swirling rumours of sabotage, Portuguese PM Luis Montenegro said there was “no indication” of a cyberattack.
Still, Sanchez confirmed he had spoken to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte as a precaution.
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