Much of Spain and Portugal have been hit by a widespread power outage that has canceled flights, brought trains to a halt, downed phone lines and cellphone networks, and left thousands without access to their bank accounts as card payment machines and ATMs were also down.
Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN), Portugal’s grid operator, said on Monday afternoon that the outage was caused by a “rare atmospheric phenomenon.”
REN said that as a result of extreme temperature variations in Spain, there were “anomalous oscillations” in extremely high-voltage lines. REN said this is known as “induced atmospheric variation,” which in turn can lead to oscillations. This caused synchronization failures between systems, leading to successive disturbances across the European network, which is interconnected.
What To Know
- Major cities including Barcelona, Seville and Valencia were without power. Parts of France were also affected by power loss.
- Several airports, including Madrid airport, which is Spain’s busiest, had no electricity, El Mundo reported.
- The power outage has brought public transport to a standstill, caused significant traffic jams and delayed flights.
- REN has warned that, due to the complexity of the issue, it could take as long as a week for the network to return to normal. Spain’s electricity grid operator Red Eléctrica has said that “all resources” are being dedicated to solving the issue.
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