A sudden and widespread power outage plunged Spain and Portugal into chaos on Monday, knocking out electricity across cities, disrupting transportation, and triggering emergency declarations in both countries.
The blackout, which began shortly after noon, affected nearly the entire Iberian Peninsula and even parts of France. Portugal’s grid operator REN confirmed that power supply was lost across both nations, calling the situation a “complex operation” to fix.
Commuters were caught off guard as traffic lights, metro systems, and public infrastructure suddenly went dark. “I was driving and suddenly there was no traffic lights… It was a bit of a jungle,” said Madrid resident Luis Ibáñez Jiménez in a CNN report.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said authorities were still investigating the cause of the outage. Meanwhile, Portugal’s leader Luis Montenegro declared an energy crisis and pointed fingers at Spain, saying the disruption “did not originate in Portugal” and appeared to have started across the border.
In Madrid, the local government urged residents to stay off the roads and avoid overwhelming emergency services. Mayor José Luis Martinez Almeida advised people to limit movement, while regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso requested military support to manage the aftermath.
Portugal faced a more difficult situation due to its reliance on imported electricity from Spain, especially during the morning hours when solar power is cheaper. “We are peripheral,” REN’s João Faria Conceição said, explaining that while Spain received emergency power from France and Morocco, Portugal had no such fallback.
By Tuesday morning, energy supply was gradually being restored. Spain reported that over 87% of affected areas had regained power, and videos on social media showed celebrations in Portuguese neighborhoods as lights came back on.
Despite initial fears, European Council President Antonio Costa assured that there were “no indications” of a cyberattack. The true cause of the blackout remains under investigation.
