Power Restored in Spain, Portugal as Authorities Investigate Cause

Rabat – Electricity has been restored to most of Spain and Portugal after a major blackout on Monday, which left large parts of both countries without power.

Authorities are still investigating what caused one of Europe’s biggest power failures in years.

Schools and offices reopened on Tuesday in Spain, with public transport resuming and traffic jams easing. Some hospitals were still running on backup generators, but many had power again.

Meanwhile, in Portugal, all 89 power stations were back online by Monday night, and airports, trains, and the Lisbon metro were working again, though some delays continued.

Spain’s national grid operator, Red Electrica, said the blackout was caused by a sudden and dramatic loss of 15 gigawatts of electricity, equal to 60% of the country’s total demand, within just five seconds.

This loss caused the power connection between Spain and France to break, leading to a collapse of Spain’s power system. Some areas in France also had brief outages.

Red Electrica noted that 99% of energy demand in the country has been restored by 7 a.m. local time.

The power outage left many travelers stranded at stations overnight, especially in Madrid where some people slept in the station. Police and Red Cross workers gave out blankets and water, and a state of emergency was declared in several regions, with 30,000 police officers deployed to assist.

The impact of the power outage was also felt in Morocco, with severe disruptions to Orange’s internet services across the country.

Orange Maroc released a statement reassuring the public that “internet connectivity is gradually returning as international links affected by the power outage in Spain and Portugal are restored.”