Spain, Portugal is back, search for answers after one of the worst interruptions in Europe

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Electricity was restored to almost all Spain and Portugal on Tuesday morning after a significant reduction in the force that affects the entire Iberian Peninsula, but the reason for the power outage remained a mystery.

A large -scale interruption lasted for about eight hours – in some areas for a longer period – and closed metro networks, ATMs and traffic light, while disrupting flights and mobile communications on Monday.

By 7 am local time on Tuesday, more than 99 percent of the energy demand in Spain was restored, the country’s electricity operator said. The Portuguese network operator Ren said that all its sub -stations had returned online.

When life began to return to normal – while reopening schools and offices, rebuilding traffic and restarting public transportation – the authorities in Spain did not provide after more explanations for a reason that caused one of the most dangerous power outages in Europe.

People check their phones and laptops near ticket machines at a train station.
Passengers are waiting to climb to their trains at the Santa Josa railway station in Seville on Tuesday. (Cristina Quicler/AFP/Getty Images)

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that the priorities of his government were two parts: restoring the electrical system in the country and finding overwhelming reasons, so that there is no similar event “again.”

“We analyze all the possible causes without getting rid of any hypothesis,” Sanchez said.

Such a large -scale electrical failure has no precedent on the Iberian Peninsula or in Europe.

Watch | Electric power outages leave people stuck in the capital of Spain:

The main power outage leaves travelers, and passengers are stuck in Madrid

He left people who were cut off outside the Madrid train stations on Monday, as power outages are inclusive of public transportation, delayed flights and causing large -scale traffic jams.

Eduardo Breto, director of services for the system operations at the Electricity Operating Operations in Spain, pointed to the “severe interruption events”, before the power outage on Monday. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, he said that more investigations were needed to understand the reason for its occurrence.

Red Electrica, in a statement on Monday night, pointed out “a strong fluctuation in energy flow”, which sparked “the loss of a very large generation.”

People sit on stairs next to the elevator.
Travelers at the Atwsha Train Station in Madrid, Spain, are waiting on Monday while preparing for the night, following the massive energy reduction. (Oscar Del Boso/AFP/Getty Images)

A source with a direct knowledge of the sector said that at the time of the power outage, the Spanish network was working with a very little “stagnation”, which is the energy that moves in a large mass traded such as the generator or in some industrial engines.

The stagnation helps to install the network by slowing the rate of frequency changing when there is a sudden decrease, a rise in demand or generation.

“In these circumstances (when there is a little self -deficiency) if there is a decrease in production for any reason, the network loses (more) self -deficiency and everything failed. In blacking, you need to rebuild self -deficiencies before the online restore, which takes a few hours,” said the source, and asked for identity.

There is no unusual weather event or a sign of electronic attack

AEMET, AEMET, said it had not discovered any “meteorological or atmosphere phenomena” on Monday, and no sudden temperature fluctuations were recorded in weather stations.

On Monday, the National Cyber ​​Security Center in Portugal rejected speculation about the wrong play, saying that there was no sign that the power outage resulted from an electronic attack.

A man awaits the stairs leading to a closed subway station.
A man is waiting for the metro station to open in Madrid on Monday. (Violet Santos Mora/Reuters)

“There are no indications of any electronic attack.” The Teresa Ribera, Deputy CEO of the European Commission, has ruled out sabotage, but confirmed that the interruption “is one of the most dangerous episodes in Europe recently.”

While Red Electrica also excluded an electronic attack, the Supreme Court of Spain said it would open an investigation to determine whether it is It was possible to commit a “computer sabotage” “against critical Spanish infrastructure.”

“Electrical instability” that affects the Barcelona metro

The energy was restored in the CAJA Mágica Tennis complex and Madrid Open resumed on Tuesday with a crowded schedule, after a day when 22 games were postponed.

At the largest train stations in Spain, groups of travelers waited on Tuesday morning on the trains or to return the ticket book to the trips that were canceled or disabled.

At Atocha Station in Madrid, hundreds of people stood near the screens waiting for updates. Many spent tonight at the station, wrapped in the blankets provided by the Red Cross. Similar scenes played at St. Station in Barcelona.

By 11 am local time on Tuesday, the service was restored on the metro system in Madrid. In Barcelona, ​​the system was operating normally, but passenger trains were suspended due to “electrical instability,” said Rodals Catalunya, on X.

Emergency workers in Spain said that they saved about 35,000 passengers on Monday, who were cut off along the railway and under the ground, with the power outage that turned into sports centers, train stations and airports into temporary shelters overnight.

People gather in the dark.
Tennis fans who were watching a match during the seventh day of the Matta Madrid star left the Kaja Magica stadium after the game stopped on Monday due to the power outage. (Julian Fini/Getty Emima)

Meanwhile, thousands of kilometers were cut off thousands of kilometers away, the remote areas of Greenland were cut off from arriving at decisive satellites due to the power outages on the Iberian Peninsula – but Tusass Greenland Tusass on Tuesday was restored overnight.

Tusass said on Monday that it had lost contact with satellite equipment stationed in Spain, which provides phone, internet, television and radio services.



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