The magnitude of the blackout has no precedents in Spain, according to Pedro Sánchez, in a statement on the night of this Monday, in which he reiterated that no ‘no hypothesis’ can be ruled out on its origin
THE electricity is returning progressively on the night of Monday (28) in Spain and Portugalafter long hours of a massive electrical blackout of unknown origin, which began after the local noon, leading to a day of chaos in the Iberian Peninsula. “Retrieved 61.35% of the demand” in Peninsular Spain, the Red Electrical company said at midnight from Monday to Tuesday (19h Monday in Brasilia), in a message on social network X.
Shortly before, the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, acknowledged that he could not say “for sure” when the supply will reach 100%. Meanwhile, electricity was beginning to reach various neighborhoods of Madrid and Lisbon, where it was received with applause by residents. This “serious and unprecedented situation” should be resolved in the next few hours in Portugal, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said, who considered that the origin of the problem would be “probably in Spain”.
Half an hour after noon, much of the Iberian Peninsula was out of power. Suddenly, the cell phones lost the signal, the electronic devices shut down and elevators and trains stopped. Confused and worried, many people took to the streets of cities like Madrid and Barcelona trying to find answers to a lasted handout.
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The magnitude of the blackout has no precedents in Spain, according to Pedro Sánchez, in a statement on Monday night at the Palace of La Moncloa, the headquarters of the government, in which it reiterated that one cannot discard “no hypothesis” about its origin. “At 12:33 pm this morning, 15 generation gigawatts were suddenly lost from the system […] in just five seconds. This is something that has never happened before, ”said the socialist leader.
“Fifteen gigawatts equals approximately 60% of the country’s demand at this time,” he said. “What has caused this sudden disappearance of supply? It’s something the experts haven’t yet been able to determine, but they will do so,” said Sánchez. In addition, he advised non -essential workers not to attend work on Tuesday.
Eleven Blocked Trains
With the traffic lights off, police struggled to drive a chaotic traffic that congested the main urban roads. Authorities instituted the population to avoid the use of vehicles, but without electricity, many people did not receive the warnings. “They closed and said nothing,” was regretted a Barcelona Romo Room Station, a 48 -year -old cleaning worker who was waiting for three hours to be able to return home in the metropolitan region.
The Spanish Railway Infrastructure Administrator (ADIF) announced on Network X that the rail services of all companies until the second warning were suspended, and asked the population not to go to the stations. On Monday night, about ten hours after the start of the blackout, there were still 11 trains blocked with passengers on board, according to the Spanish Minister of Transportation.
No ‘evidence’
Earlier, Sánchez had said that the blackout triggered a “widespread interruption of supply throughout the Iberian Peninsula and in some southern regions of France” that affected millions of people and generated “economic losses in business, companies, industry.” “I want to appeal to the population to collaborate with all authorities, to act with responsibility and civility, as we always did during past crises,” said Sánchez. In addition, the agent asked the population to limit the use of their cell phones to avoid congested the network, and pointed out that “telecommunications are at a critical moment.”
In Brussels, the president of the European Council, António Costa, said in Rede X that, for now, “there is no evidence” that the blackout was caused by a cybers. Ukraine President Volodimir Zelensky indicated in X that his country was ready to “help” Spain, thanks to his “experience” in the “fight against any energy challenge, including blackouts” after “years of war and Russian attacks.”
Given the lack of external electric supply, the reactors of the Spanish nuclear power plants that were in operation “stopped automatically,” the Nuclear Security Council said, a normal procedure in these cases.
Suddenly
Air traffic has also suffered major disturbances, especially at airports from Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon, according to the agency in charge of monitoring European air traffic, Eurocontrol.
The Portuguese electricity manager (REN) announced tonight that he restored the current by about 2.5 million homes out of a total of 6.5 million.
Other countries that also experienced large electric cuts, without directly provoked by meteorological phenomena, were for example Tunisia in September 2023, Sri Lanka in August 2020, Argentina and Uruguay in June 2019 and India, where half of the country suffered a giant blackout in July 2012.
*With information from AFP
Posted by Carolina Ferreira
Source: Jovempan
I have been working as a journalist for over 10 years. In that time, I have covered the news from all corners of the world, and written about everything from politics to business.I’m now a full-time author, and my work can be found at Global happenings. My aim is to bring you up-to-date news and views on global affairs, in a format that is easy to read and understand.
