Madrid: Power in Spain and Portugal was almost fully restored on Tuesday, following one of Europe’s most severe blackouts, which disrupted flights, paralysed metro systems, caused widespread mobile communication failures, and shut down ATMs across the Iberian Peninsula. By 7 am, Spain’s electricity operator, Red Eléctrica, confirmed that over 99% of the country’s energy demand had been restored. In Portugal, grid operator REN reported that all 89 power substations were back online, and power had been fully restored to all 6.4 million customers by Tuesday morning.
The return to normalcy began as schools and offices reopened in Spain, traffic along major routes in Madrid eased, and public transport resumed after significant delays. However, Spanish authorities offered no new explanations for the cause of the blackout, which was one of the most severe the continent has ever experienced.
In a televised address on Monday evening, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stated that the nation’s power grid had lost 15 gigawatts — about 60% of its national demand — in just five seconds. Sánchez called the incident an unprecedented collapse of the system and confirmed that investigations into the cause were still ongoing.
The precise cause of the outage remains a mystery. Spain’s meteorological agency, AEMET, confirmed that no unusual weather or atmospheric phenomena had been detected on Monday, and no significant temperature fluctuations were observed. The National Cybersecurity Centre in Portugal dismissed speculation of a cyber attack, and European Council President António Costa also stated that there were “no indications of any cyber attack.” Teresa Ribera, the European Commission’s executive vice president, ruled out sabotage, although she acknowledged that the event was one of the most severe of its kind in Europe in recent times.
The blackout caused significant chaos at train stations, with travellers stranded across the country. In Madrid’s largest station, Atocha, hundreds of people waited for updates on cancelled or delayed trains, with many forced to spend the night at the station. Similar scenes were reported at Barcelona’s Sants station. The Madrid Open tennis tournament was also affected, with organisers delaying the opening of the event.
By Tuesday morning, Madrid’s metro system was fully operational, but commuter trains in Barcelona remained suspended due to “electrical instability,” according to Rodalies Catalunya, the company responsible for the service. In some regions, commuter and mid-distance services were still running at reduced capacity.
Emergency services in Spain rescued around 35,000 passengers stranded by the blackout on Monday, with many seeking refuge in train stations, airports, and sports centres. Ruben Carion, who was stuck on a commuter train outside Madrid, managed to escape by opening a window and walking to the nearest station on foot. He then spent the night at Madrid’s Atocha station after his return train to Barcelona was cancelled. Describing the experience as “pure chaos,” Carion chose to remain at the station overnight to stay updated on when he could continue his journey home.