‘Rare atmospheric phenomenon’ makes it ‘impossible to say’ when electricity will return

Portugal’s electricity distributor REN said on Monday it had restored production at both a hydroelectric and thermoelectric plant amid operations to revive the national grid after a widespread outage.

It added that such operations were “particularly complex compared to Spain” because Portugal was relying solely on its national resources instead of contributions from France and Morocco.

REN said it was prioritising restoring supply to priority consumption points such as hospitals, security forces, airports, railways and roads.

Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez said there was no clear reason behind the power cuts as yet. (PA)

Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez has said it is not clear what caused the power outage that hit Spain, Portugal and parts of France today.

Sánchez said: “We do not have definitive reasons for this outage. As such, I am asking citizens to inform themselves through official channels, as we have during other crises. It is better to not speculate. We will know the causes and we haven’t discarded any possibilities but now we should focus on the most important, to restore electricity to our homes.”

He added that there are extra security forces deployed but “there are no security problems” up to now.

“Our hospital system is working without problems and has significant autonomy,” he said, referring to back-up generators that have been powering emergency services.

The operators of Spain’s nuclear reactors are preparing to reconnect to the power grid as they recover their external electricity supply, the country’s nuclear safety council has said.

The only exception is the Trillo plant, which is shut down for refueling, the council added.

The nuclear safety council had said earlier that the reactors were in safe condition after a power blackout hit the country.

Four reactors stopped operating automatically after the outage, after which emergency generators kicked in.

For three reactors that weren’t in operation at the time, emergency generators also started working to keep them in a safe condition, the council said.

Ana Cordero, a tourist from Puerto Rico, has told how she was taking the train from Madrid to Barcelona when the power failed.

Recalling how she and her boyfriend were trapped on the train for three hours, she said: “After about an hour the train’s (emergency) battery died and then – that’s it.

“The bathrooms weren’t working. It’s so stupid because everything was electronic, even to wash your hands.”

Eventually their train was evacuated and passengers walked back to the station along the tracks. She said they had nowhere in Madrid to stay and was worried that hotel prices would be “up, up, up”.

More than five hours into the blackout, and with around three hours to go until the sun sets in Madrid, Spain’s grid operator still has a lot of work to do before power supplies are fully restored.

Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov returns the ball to Britain’s Jacob Fearnley before their match was called off. (Getty Images)

Play at the Madrid Open has been cancelled for the rest of Monday after the whole of the Spanish capital was affected by the power outage.

The blackout forced 15th seed Grigor Dimitrov and his British opponent Jacob Fearnley off court as scoreboards went dark and overhead cameras lost power.

The round of 32 match at the Manolo Santana Stadium where Dimitrov led Fearnley 6-4 5-4 had to be stopped due to a spidercam being left hanging too close to the court.

“The nationwide power cut experienced in Spain on Monday 28 April has forced the cancellation of both the day and night sessions,” the Madrid Open posted on X.

Fourth seed Coco Gauff, who beat Belinda Bencic 6-4 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals, had her post-match interview at the Arantxa Sanchez Stadium cut short with the microphone losing power.

Electronic line calling systems were also affected by the power cut, the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) said, while spectators shared pictures of dark hallways at the Manzanares Park Tennis Centre.

Rory Boland advises those due to travel in the next few days to check advice from airports, tour operators or airlines online. (Getty Images)

Rory Boland, editor of customer advocacy publication Which? Travel, said: “The power outages in Spain and Portugal will have a significant knock-on effect for those travelling to and from both countries.”

But if you have booked holidays in any affected areas in the next few days or weeks, the consumer advocate said it’s important not to cancel your trip.

“If your flight or holiday is several days or weeks away, the best advice is to not cancel as you will lose money and won’t be able to claim via travel insurance,” Boland shared.

Read the full story from HuffPost

Transport systems are unravelling in Spain and Portugal following massive power cuts across the Iberian peninsula. The electricity supply in both countries appears to have shut down at around 12.30pm local time – hitting everything from traffic lights to trains, including underground railways. While the cause of the shutdown is still not clear, the impact on travellers is all too evident.

Spain is by far the biggest draw of any overseas country for British holidaymakers, and Portugal is also very popular. At least half a million UK tourists are in those countries.

Read the full story from The Independent.

Large IKEA stores in Spain are running on back-up generators. (Getty Images)

IKEA’s big stores in Spain have switched to backup generators and are not allowing new customers in amid a power outage affecting large parts of Spain and Portugal, IKEA franchisee Ingka Group said on Monday.

IKEA’s smaller city stores and pick-up points in Spain are temporarily closed, a spokesperson for the global furniture retailer said in a statement.

“We are letting our customers and co-workers stay in our stores in case they have no transportation options,” they said.

In Portugal, all IKEA stores are closed and will not reopen today, they added.

A graph shows the power consumption drop in Spain as the blackout occurred.

Graph shows power use drop in Spain amid outage. (Red Electrica)

A rare atmospheric phenomenon in Spain due to extreme temperature variations in the interior of the country caused power outages across the Iberian Peninsula, Portuguese grid operator REN said. The company added that the full restoration of the country’s electricity grid could take up to a week.

Footage shows traffic lights out, and darkness on the metro amid power cuts.

Some supermarkets are reportedly imposing limits on how much water their customers can buy as the power outage continue. Sky News reported Mercadona supermarket in Castellon was limiting bottles of water to five per person.

A woman in Porto has described the moment power went out in her building.

Sara Diogo Mateus told Yahoo News: “It was around 11:30am, we were sitting at my mum’s flat and the entire building’s power had gone out. I thought it was maybe just the building but then we got a call saying that there was no power within 50 miles.

“When we spoke to people who lived quite far away who said they were impacted as much as us, we knew it had to be something big.”

She added that some shops in the area have remained open, while others are closed. The family has bought a battery powered radio to keep up with the news.

Tennis writer Connor Joyce has described the moment the power outage affected the Madrid Open.

“It was about 12:30/12:45 when it happened,” he told Yahoo News. “I was watching Mirra Andreeva’s match, I think right as she finished the tech electronics went out.”

He went to the ground-level area after play was suspended. “It was just dark, people had their torches out, he said, adding that there was “maybe a bit of confusion” but that people were in good spirits.

“A guy said to me, ‘don’t worry man, this is Spain’, as if this sort of thing was common.

“People have headed to the practice court area, a lot of people are just sitting around and taking the chance to eat. A lot of the food stalls relying on cards are diverting to cash and torches.”

Spain’s grid operator Red Electrica said voltage has been recovered in substations in several areas of the north, south and west of the peninsula.

The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, has urged people to minimise their travel amid the continued power cut.

He said people should “minimise travel as much as possible, if possible remain where they are, to leave all circulation routes clear so that emergency services can circulate…

“Calls to 112 should only be truly urgent; if they don’t answer, reach out to firefighters and local police.”

Graphs show the drop off in internet traffic from Spain and Portugal amid the widespread power cut.

With the widespread blackouts in Spain and Portugal, footage has resurfaced of Ofgem’s CEO being asked whether the UK is prepared to similar power cuts.