Massive power outage in Spain, Portugal; subway networks, ATMs knocked out

Large swathes of Spain and Portugal have been hit by a massive power outage on Monday (April 28), leaving a large section of a combined population of over 50 million people in darkness. It also knocked out subway networks, phone lines, traffic lights, and ATM machines in several cities, including their capitals.

Such a large-scale outage is rare in such regions, reports the Associated Press (AP). Spanish generator Red Eléctrica said it affected the Iberian Peninsula and the incident is being assessed.

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Not clear how many affected

According to officials of the local administration in Spain, it is still not clear how many people were affected.

Spain's public broadcaster RTVE reported that the power outage hit several regions of the country just after midday local time, plunging its newsroom, Spain's Parliament in Madrid and subway stations across the country into darkness.

According to the data posted on Spain's electricity network website, there has been a steep drop around 12.15 pm from 27,500MW to nearly 15,000MW.

Within a few hours, Spain's electricity network operator said it was recovering power in the north and south of the peninsula, which would help to progressively restore the electricity supply nationwide.

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Outage in Lisbon, other areas

As for Portugal, which has a population of about 10.6 million people, the outage hit the capital, Lisbon, and surrounding areas, as well as northern and southern parts of the country.

As for the reason behind the outage, Portugal’s national news agency Lusa quoted a government official saying that the outage can be attributed to problems outside the country.

“It looks like it was a problem with the distribution network, apparently in Spain. It's still being ascertained,” Cabinet Minister Leitão Amaro was quoted as saying in local media.

Portuguese distributor E-Redes said the outage was due to “a problem with the European electricity system,” according to Portuguese newspaper Expresso. The company said it was compelled to cut power in specific areas to stabilise the network, it added.

Parts of France affected

E-Redes said parts of France also were affected.

Several Lisbon subway cars were evacuated, reports said. Also in Portugal, courts stopped work and ATMs and electronic payment systems were affected. Traffic lights in Lisbon stopped working.

It was not possible to make calls on mobile phone networks, though some apps were working.