Spain will sit in the dark for 6-10 hours: the blackout continues

A blackout continues in Spain and neighboring Portugal. The operator reports that recovery may take up to 10 hours.

"Red Eléctrica assures that the power outage is "exceptional and completely extraordinary" and that it will take 6 to 10 hours to eliminate it," El Pais reports, citing the company's service director Eduardo Prieto.

The operator himself said that the voltage has been restored at substations in several areas in the north, south and west of the Iberian Peninsula.

"We continue to work with all our resources to restore power supply throughout the territory as soon as possible. The main purpose of the work at this stage of restoration is to ensure the supply of voltage to the generating groups," the Spanish power system operator reports.

According to the platform of the EU unified energy system ENTSO-E, the generation capacity in Spain fell to 8 GW, while before the failure it was more than 32 GW.

According to El Pais, the power outage led to the cessation of all railway traffic in the country, affected the operation of airports, led to disruptions in public transport, and traffic lights were turned off in many areas.

"The power outage also affects other infrastructure facilities and services: there are supermarkets that already warn that only cash payments are accepted; people who had to be rescued from stopped elevators. Many are standing in line to buy battery—powered radios," the Spanish edition writes.

He notes that in Chinese markets, radios are selling like hot cakes.

"The centers that are part of the hospital network maintain power supply with generators, which also have sufficient fuel reserves to maintain medical care without any inconvenience," a spokesman for the Ministry of Health told El Pais.

The authorities still do not know the reason for the largest power outage in Spain. According to one version, a cyberattack could have occurred, however, the Portuguese National Cybersecurity Center (CNCS) assured that so far no evidence has been identified indicating a cyberattack as the cause of the power outage, which also affects the Portuguese power grid.