France, Spain, and Portugal experienced one of the largest power outages in history today. The French power transmission network (RTE) confirmed that there were interruptions in some areas, but the service is now gradually recovering.
EU Commission spokesperson Paula Pinho made a statement on the X social network, stating that they are in contact with the Spanish and Portuguese governments.
Madrid Mayor José Luis Martínez Almeida has asked residents of the capital not to leave their homes. Although the city authorities are trying to keep all roads open, some automobile tunnels have been closed. The mayor advised residents to contact emergency services only in a real emergency.
Trains stopped in Spain, metro stations closed
Spanish Railways announced the temporary suspension of operations for all companies. The Madrid Metro was forced to close all stations. Due to the noisy outage, additional security forces were sent to many stations.
The electricity transmission company Red Electrica Espanola (REE) reported that malfunctions in the transformer centers have been eliminated in some regions. And the Endesa company reported that electricity supply has been restored to some areas around Barcelona.
Portugal: The reason could be a cyberattack
Portuguese Minister Manuel Castro Almeida stated that the outages in the energy system are linked to a potential cyberattack. According to him, the incident affected not only Portugal but also Spain, France, and Germany.
Has history repeated itself?
This event was reminiscent of a major power outage in 2006. Even then, millions of people across Europe were left without electricity, and transport systems were disrupted.
The Council of Europe at that time explained the reasons for the outages as insufficient security measures, low technical preparedness, and lack of intersectoral compatibility.
Today's event has once again shown that the European energy system is still weak.
