By Renata Brito and Barry Hatton, Associated Press
Barcelona, Spain (AP) – A power failure brought a large part of Spain and Portugal to a stop on Monday, interrupting metro trains, cutting the telephone service and stopping traffic lights and automatic ticket distributors for the 50 million people who live through the Iberian peninsula.
The Spanish food distributor Red Eléctrica said that energy restoration in large parts of the country and neighboring Portugal could take 6 to 10 hours.
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Spectators move inside the Madrid Open tennis tournament place during a general breakdown in Madrid, Monday April 28, 2025. (AP photo / Manu Fernandez)
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Spectators move inside the Madrid Open tennis tournament place during a general breakdown in Madrid, Monday April 28, 2025. (AP photo / Manu Fernandez)
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The company refused to speculate on the causes of the huge power failure. The Portuguese National Cybersecurity Center published a statement saying that there was no sign that the failure was due to a cyber attack.
Eduardo Pieto, operations manager at Red Eléctrica, told journalists that he was unprecedented, calling for the “exceptional and extraordinary” event.
The breakdown struck Spain and Portugal, including their capitals, Madrid and Lisbon. The offices closed and the traffic was scolded while the traffic lights stopped working. It was not possible to make calls on certain mobile phones networks, although some applications work.
Countries have a population combined with more than 50 million people. It was not immediately clear how assigned were. It is rare to have such a widespread breakdown in the Iberian peninsula.
The authorities said that the cause was not immediately known, although a Portuguese official said that the problem seemed to be with the electricity distribution network in Spain.
The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez summoned an extraordinary meeting of the Spanish National Security Council and visited Red Eléctrica to follow the efforts to restore grid operations.
The Portuguese cabinet summoned an emergency meeting at the Prime Minister’s residence.
The Government of Portugal said that the breakdown seemed to come from problems outside the country, said an official of the national news agency Lusa.
“It seems that this is a problem with the distribution network, apparently in Spain. It is still checked,” said the Minister of the Cabinet Leitão Amaro.
The Portuguese distributor E-Redes said that the breakdown was due to “a problem with the European electrical system”, according to the Portuguese Journal Expresso. The company said that it had been forced to reduce power in specific areas to stabilize the network, according to Expresso.
The public broadcaster of Spain, RTVE, said that a major power failure has struck several regions of the country just after local time at noon, leaving its editorial room, the Spanish parliament in Madrid and metro stations across the country in darkness.
A graphic on the website of the Spanish electricity network showing demand across the country indicated a steep drop around 12:15 p.m. from 27,500 MW to almost 15,000 MW.
Spanish airports operated on electrical emergency systems and certain flights were delayed, according to Aena, the company which runs 56 airports in Spain, including Madrid and Barcelona.
In Lisbon, the terminals closed and crowds of tourists sat outside the sun and the shade while waiting for news of their flights.
“We have not seen any plane arriving or leaving in the 50 minutes we were waiting for here,” Dutch tourist Marc Brandsma told the Associated Press.
Training services in the two countries stop. The video broadcast on Spanish television has shown that people evacuating metro stations in Madrid and empty stations with trains arrested in Barcelona.
The Spanish Parliament of Madrid closed and played at the Madrid Open tennis tournament was suspended. Three games were underway when Power dropped.
The Spanish traffic service asked citizens to avoid using their cars as much as possible due to the power failure, which affected traffic lights and electrical signaling.
The streets of Barcelona fill up with crowds of people on the sidewalks, moving in front of the dark stores and offices and exchanging information on what had happened.
Immediate concerns were the telephone companies that still had uneven coverage or where Internet access could be found. Another concern was how to get home with the metro and the packaged public buses.
In Terrassa, an industrial city at 50 kilometers (30 miles) in Barcelona, the stores selling generators were out of stock after people aligned themselves to buy them.
In Portugal, a country of 10.6 million people, the breakdown struck Lisbon and its surroundings, as well as the parts of the North and the South. Portuguese police have put more officers in service to direct traffic and cope with increased help requests, including people trapped in elevators.
Portuguese hospitals and other emergency services have gone to generators. Service stations have stopped working.
The national authority of Portugal for emergencies and civil protection said that the emergency electricity systems worked.
Several Lisbon metro cars have been evacuated, according to information. Still in Portugal, the courts arrested work and automatic tickets of tickets and electronic payment systems were assigned.
Hatton reported in Lisbon, Portugal. Joe Wilson in Barcelona contributed.
Originally published:
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