Spain restores power after massive blackout but trains remain disrupted

Following a rare nationwide blackout, Spain has restored nearly all electricity supply, though most trains remain idle and the cause of the outage remains unclear.

Spain’s electricity grid operator, Red Eléctrica, announced on Tuesday that it had managed to supply nearly the entire country’s power demand following a massive blackout that disrupted the Iberian Peninsula the day before. All substations in Spain were operational by Tuesday morning, the operator said in a statement on X, while control centre teams continued efforts to fully stabilise the system.

Despite the restoration of electricity, the rail network remained significantly impaired. Madrid’s underground resumed limited operations with 80% of trains running, while the national railway operator Adif confirmed that most intercity and regional trains across Spain were still not functioning.

The unprecedented outage struck on Monday morning, impacting Spain and Portugal, halting public transport, grounding aircraft, and leading hospitals to scale back routine services. Power began to return late Monday, yet several sectors faced continued disruption into Tuesday.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the blackout was triggered by a sudden drop of 15 gigawatts of electricity generation within five seconds—roughly 60% of Spain’s total demand. This abrupt loss disconnected Spain’s power grid from France’s, leading to a wider systemic collapse, according to Red Eléctrica's operations chief, Eduardo Prieto.

While minor outages were also reported in parts of France, Portugal’s grid operator indicated that the problem likely originated in Spain. Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro stated that there was no evidence pointing to a cyberattack.

The incident has reignited debate over the stability of renewable energy networks. Spain, a leading user of wind and solar energy, faces growing scrutiny over whether its energy infrastructure can withstand supply fluctuations. Prime Minister Sanchez said the root cause of the outage remains unknown and that no possibility, including technical failure or external interference, is being ruled out.

Sanchez also discussed the incident with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday, according to sources in Brussels.

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