Spain And Portugal Hit By Widespread Power Blackouts

Most of Spain and parts of Portugal were hit by a major blackout that impacted power and phone lines at around noon on Monday. 

Public transport, traffic lights and phone services were mostly down in parts of Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon due to the outage, while trains were mostly halted. 

The government and grid operator Red Electrica are seeking to determine the reason for the outage, according to two statements. Backup plans have been put in place by utilities, the Spanish operator said on X.

Spain’s Canary and Balearic Islands were unaffected, and the market is operating normally.