Four Large European Countries Left Without Electricity

Spain and Portugal experienced large-scale power and telephone outages, with disruptions also affecting France and Belgium. Due to the failure, operations were interrupted at Madrid’s international airport and Lisbon Airport.

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Dark room

The causes of the power outages have not yet been determined, El País newspaper said. Spain’s National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE) is investigating whether the blackout could have been the result of a hacker attack.

The outage disrupted public transportation, traffic lights, and telephone communications. Train movement was nearly halted in parts of Madrid and Barcelona.

According to El País, mass power outages began at 12:20 p.m. local time (1:20 p.m. Moscow time). For unknown reasons, Spain’s electricity consumption suddenly plummeted from 27,075 MW to 12,321 MW. The state-owned company Red Eléctrica announced it had activated an emergency recovery plan and was coordinating efforts with other energy companies.

The Spanish government convened an emergency meeting following the massive network failure. The cabinet meeting is taking place at the official residence of the Prime Minister — the Moncloa Palace in Madrid.

The power outage also paralyzed operations at Lisbon Airport, which serves thousands of passengers.

Residents of Andorra and parts of France also reported electricity supply problems. Outages were additionally recorded in Belgium.

The Canary and Balearic Islands were not affected by the disruptions. The Canaries are powered by six independent systems isolated from mainland Spain and from each other. Meanwhile, the Balearic Islands' power supply relies on two interconnected systems and a submarine cable linking them to the Iberian Peninsula.

Details

A power outage, also called a powercut, a power out, a power failure, a power blackout, a power loss, a blackout or a power drought — is the loss of the electrical power network supply to an end user. There are many causes of power failures in an electricity network. Examples of these causes include faults at power stations, damage to electric transmission lines, substations or other parts of the distribution system, a short circuit, cascading failure, fuse or circuit breaker operation. Power failures are particularly critical at sites where the environment and public safety are at risk. Institutions such as hospitals, sewage treatment plants, and mines will usually have backup power sources such as standby generators, which will automatically start up when electrical power is lost. Other critical systems, such as telecommunication, are also required to have emergency power. The battery room of a telephone exchange usually has arrays of lead–acid batteries for backup and also a socket for connecting a generator during extended periods of outage. During a power outage, there is a disruption in the supply of electricity, resulting in a loss of power to homes, businesses, and other facilities. Power outages can occur for various reasons, including severe weather conditions (e.g. storms, hurricanes, or blizzards), earthquakes, equipment failure, grid overload, or planned maintenance.