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Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Questions Begin as Spain, Portugal Recover From Power Outage
A woman is seen holding a candle for light as Spain, Portugal, and other parts of Europe are hit with widespread power blackouts which lasted 10 hours in Lisbon, Portugal on April 28, 2025. Credit - Getty Images For millions of people across Spain and Portugal, power was lost in an instant yesterday. Communications came to a halt, water was not running in places, metro systems ground to a standstill, and travellers were strained in airport departure lounges. This morning, Spain's electricity grid is almost entirely restored and all homes in Portugal now have power restored, some 18 hours later. The Madrid Metro has been busy as usual this morning, and residents in the Spanish capital cheered this morning as lights came back on. It is one of the most significant power outages in European history, and the largest since a blackout hit Italy in 2003 that lasted three hours and affected 57 million people. Read More: What to Know About the Power Outage that Hit Spain, Portugal, and France During Monday's abrupt outage, it was reported that a possible cause could have been an astrological phenomenon, according to Portugal's grid operator. However, Spain's meteorological agency has since reported no such phenomena occurring across the country, nor any sudden fluctuations in temperature. President of the European Council António Costa said on Monday afternoon that there were 'no indications of any cyber attack.' That conclusion has been supported by the operator of Spain's national grid, Red Eléctrica, which has located where outages began on Monday. Two separate incidents of power outages led to instability in the grid leading to a 'breakdown in interconnections with France,' leaving the Iberian grid isolated. On Tuesday, Red Eléctrica ruled out a cyber-attack as the cause. Investigations from both Portuguese and Spanish grid operators and cybersecurity teams are ongoing, but there is no clear answer as to what caused the outages yet. A technical analysis to fully understand the outage could take weeks or even months, Kristian Ruby, secretary general of Eurelectic, a trade body, told the New York Times. Everything from sport to transport was hit by Monday's outage, with tens of millions affected. Tennis star Coco Gauff's post-match interview was cut short as systems went down at the Madrid Open. Metro services and trains across both countries were also halted, as well as traffic systems, causing havoc in multiple cities. Members of the public in Madrid were seen trying to get rides home from others as transport came to a halt. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said that his government will 'demand responsibility from private operators,' in response to the outage while urging caution over misinformation about causes at this stage. Sánchez said that determining the cause was essential so that a similar event 'never takes place again.' Contact us at letters@
Time Magazine
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Time Magazine
Power Is Restored in Spain and Portugal. But the Cause of the Outage Remains a Mystery
For millions of people across Spain and Portugal, power was lost in an instant yesterday. Communications came to a halt, water was not running in places, metro systems ground to a standstill, and travellers were strained in airport departure lounges. This morning, Spain's electricity grid is almost entirely restored and all homes in Portugal now have power restored, some 18 hours later. The Madrid Metro has been busy as usual this morning, and residents in the Spanish capital cheered this morning as lights came back on. It is one of the most significant power outages in European history, and the largest since a blackout hit Italy in 2003 that lasted three hours and affected 57 million people. What is believed to have caused the outage? During Monday's abrupt outage, it was reported that a possible cause could have been an astrological phenomenon, according to Portugal's grid operator. However, Spain's meteorological agency has since reported no such phenomena occurring across the country, nor any sudden fluctuations in temperature. President of the European Council António Costa said on Monday afternoon that there were 'no indications of any cyber attack.' That conclusion has been supported by the operator of Spain's national grid, Red Eléctrica, which has located where outages began on Monday. Two separate incidents of power outages led to instability in the grid leading to a 'breakdown in interconnections with France,' leaving the Iberian grid isolated. On Tuesday, Red Eléctrica ruled out a cyber-attack as the cause. Investigations from both Portuguese and Spanish grid operators and cybersecurity teams are ongoing, but there is no clear answer as to what caused the outages yet. A technical analysis to fully understand the outage could take weeks or even months, Kristian Ruby, secretary general of Eurelectic, a trade body, told the New York Times. What was affected? Everything from sport to transport was hit by Monday's outage, with tens of millions affected. Tennis star Coco Gauff's post-match interview was cut short as systems went down at the Madrid Open. Metro services and trains across both countries were also halted, as well as traffic systems, causing havoc in multiple cities. Members of the public in Madrid were seen trying to get rides home from others as transport came to a halt. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said that his government will 'demand responsibility from private operators,' in response to the outage while urging caution over misinformation about causes at this stage. Sánchez said that determining the cause was essential so that a similar event 'never takes place again.'
Sky News
28-04-2025
- Sky News
What impact is the blackout in Spain and Portugal having and how long will it last?
An "exceptional and extraordinary" power outage has brought large parts of Portugal and Spain to a standstill. Public transport services, internet connectivity and ATM machines across the Iberian Peninsula, an area home to 50 million people, have been affected by the outage, which occurred suddenly just after midday local time (11.30am UK time). Work is ongoing to try and restore power to affected parts of the two nations - including the capitals of Madrid and Lisbon - with Portugal's grid operator warning it could take up to a week for the network to fully normalise again. Here is everything you need to know. What has been affected and where? Huge swathes of Spain and Portugal, including major cities like Barcelona, Lisbon, Madrid, Porto and Seville have been affected by the power outage. Parts of the Basque region in France were also briefly affected. As traffic lights stopped working, traffic began to pile up on roads. In Barcelona, civilians worked to direct traffic at junctions along the Gran Via avenue, a road that cuts through the city. Spain's traffic authority, DGT, then urged citizens to not use their cars unless absolutely necessary. A similar situation occurred on the railways. Train services in both countries ground to a halt, with Spanish television showing people evacuating from metro stations in Madrid and empty stations with trains stopped in Barcelona. Maddie Sephton, who is from west London, was on the Madrid Metro when the power outage occurred. She told Sky News "everything went dark" on the train and she had to exit the station by hiking up 15 flights of stairs with her luggage. "No lifts are operating - making it difficult for elderly people with limited mobility," she added. Above ground, she said that "everyone is just standing around and waiting". Passengers at airports in Lisbon, Madrid and Barcelona are also facing disruption. Spanish airports were operating on backup electrical systems and some flights were delayed, according to Aena, the company that runs 56 airports in Spain. While in Lisbon, terminals closed and crowds of tourists sat outside in the sun and the shade waiting for news about their flights. The power outage occurred as three matches were ongoing at the Madrid Open. The Spanish parliament in Madrid has since closed play and suspended the tournament. US tennis star Coco Gauff was in the middle of a post-match interview when the power cut happened. The 2023 US Open champion later posted on an Instagram showing only emergency lighting working in a locker room. 0:29 Other things that have been affected include: • Internet and mobile coverage; • Lighting in homes, businesses and other buildings, though backup generators are in place in many; • ATMs and card payment machines, as well as most till systems; • Lifts in buildings • Electric car chargers and fuel pumps; • Air conditioning units; • Several Spanish oil refineries; • A large quantity of water pumps, meaning some homes have no access to drinking water. What caused the outage? No official cause of the blackout is yet to be determined, but Portugal's grid operator REN has said it was down to a fault in the Spanish electricity grid, related to a "rare atmospheric phenomenon". REN said due to extreme temperature variations in Spain, there were "anomalous oscillations" in very high-voltage lines. The operator said this is known as "induced atmospheric variation", which in turn led to oscillations which caused synchronisation failures between systems. In turn, that led to successive disturbances across the interconnected European network. This claim has not been confirmed by Spain's grid operator, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said there was no conclusive information yet on the cause. The Portuguese National Cybersecurity Centre also issued a statement to say there was no sign the outage was due to a cyberattack. How long will blackouts last? Spanish power distributor Red Electrica said that restoring power fully to the country and neighbouring Portugal could take six to 10 hours. By mid-afternoon, the operator said substations had been restored in parts of the north, south and west. Eduardo Prieto, head of operations at Red Electrica, called the unprecedented event "exceptional and extraordinary". In Portugal, power distributor E-Redes initially said it could take up to a week for the network to fully normalise again, but the country's prime minister, Luis Montenegro, said he had spoken several times to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, and expected power to be restored by the end of the day. Governments in both countries arranged emergency meetings to discuss efforts to restore grid operations. 4:16 A grid operator's 'worst nightmare' Sky News' science and technology editor, Tom Clarke, said the blackout is "about a grid operator's worst nightmare", but it could have been worse. "They still have half up [the grid] up and running," Clarke said, adding: "This is crucial as it means they have got power to put back onto the grid to help restore the balance. "It is not a 'black start', which is the real nightmare. This is where you have no power at all, even to get your power stations running again." Clarke explained that getting power back into the grid is "no easy feat" due to it running at alternating current that runs at a specific frequency. "If this [the current] drops even a few hertz below a certain frequency, things start to go wrong and start to trip," he said. "The reason why the frequency might fall or rise is if there is a sudden fall or rise in demand or supply of power. "What power operators will be doing in this scenario is very carefully switching on small components of the grid, bit-by-bit. This involves making phone calls to controllers and engineers and very gradually getting bits of the grid back up and running. And this can take hours."
See - Sada Elbalad
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- See - Sada Elbalad
Madrid Metro Evacuated, Airports in Spain and Portugal Affected by Power Outage
Amir Hagag Spanish media reported that the Madrid Metro was evacuated following a power outage. Airports across Spain and Portugal were also severely affected by the outage today. A photo circulating on social media showed the entrance to Legazpi Metro Station closed and workers explaining the closure to members of the public. European countries experienced chaos due to widespread power outages in Spain, Portugal, and parts of France. Metro services in Madrid were halted. The Spanish government immediately decided to hold an emergency meeting due to the complete power outage across the country, which has paralyzed several vital sectors. read more Gold prices rise, 21 Karat at EGP 3685 NATO's Role in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict US Expresses 'Strong Opposition' to New Turkish Military Operation in Syria Shoukry Meets Director-General of FAO Lavrov: confrontation bet. nuclear powers must be avoided News Iran Summons French Ambassador over Foreign Minister Remarks News Aboul Gheit Condemns Israeli Escalation in West Bank News Greek PM: Athens Plays Key Role in Improving Energy Security in Region News One Person Injured in Explosion at Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid News Egypt confirms denial of airspace access to US B-52 bombers News Ayat Khaddoura's Final Video Captures Bombardment of Beit Lahia Lifestyle Pistachio and Raspberry Cheesecake Domes Recipe News Australia Fines Telegram $600,000 Over Terrorism, Child Abuse Content Arts & Culture Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's $4.7M LA Home Burglarized Videos & Features Bouchra Dahlab Crowned Miss Arab World 2025 .. Reem Ganzoury Wins Miss Arab Africa Title (VIDEO) Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Sports Neymar Announced for Brazil's Preliminary List for 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers News Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly Inaugurates Two Indian Companies Arts & Culture New Archaeological Discovery from 26th Dynasty Uncovered in Karnak Temple
