Spain and Portugal power outage: How long will it last and when will power be restored after blackout?

Spanish energy operator Red Electrica said the outage affected large parts of the Iberian Peninsula and warned that restoring power to many areas could take "six to 10 hours." However, Portuguese grid operator REN has since said that the full normalisation of the European electricity network could take significantly longer.

REN explained that the outage stemmed from a fault in the Spanish electricity grid caused by a "rare atmospheric phenomenon," which led to "anomalous oscillations" in very high-voltage lines and triggered synchronisation failures across the interconnected European grid. "Given the complexity of the issue, it could take up to a week for the network to fully normalise again," REN said.

Sky News reported that real-time energy demand graphs showed a dramatic plunge in Spain’s electricity usage at 12:35pm local time, where "the yellow line dropped from above 26,000 megawatts to near 12,000 megawatts of power." Since then, large areas of Spain remain without power and electricity demand "has barely risen" on national charts.

The disruption was widespread. In Spain, public broadcaster RTVE reported that the power cut hit several regions, leaving Madrid’s parliament, the newsroom, and subway stations in darkness. Videos showed commuters evacuating metro stations in Madrid and trains halted in Barcelona. Spain’s traffic department urged citizens to avoid driving due to disabled traffic lights and road signs.

In Portugal, the capital Lisbon, and northern and southern regions, also suffered outages. Courts, ATMs, electronic payment systems, and mobile phone networks were disrupted, while emergency services switched to generator power. Portuguese police increased patrols to manage traffic chaos and assist those trapped in lifts.

Portuguese Cabinet Minister Leitao Amaro said the initial assessment pointed to a problem originating outside Portugal. "It looks like it was a problem with the distribution network, apparently in Spain. It’s still being ascertained," he told national news agency Lusa.

Supermarkets, including Mercadona in Castellon, faced shortages as residents scrambled for supplies like bottled water. George Atkins, a resident affected by the blackout, described the situation to Sky News: "We have a newborn baby, no electric and no water. It’s chaos out the window. Car crashes due to no traffic lights and people are stuck in lifts in the apartment building."

Emergency meetings were held in both countries. Portuguese officials gathered at the prime minister’s residence, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited Red Electrica headquarters to monitor restoration efforts.