Online Reporter
Power returned to Spain and Portugal today after a major blackout disrupted flights, metros and communications across the two countries.
Authorities said over 99 percent of energy demand was restored, while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced an investigation to determine the cause of the outage, which remains unclear.
“All the necessary measures will be taken to ensure that this does not happen again,” he told a press conference a day after Spain and Portugal were plunged into darkness for reasons yet to be determined,” he said.
Meanwhile, Spain’s top criminal court on Tuesday said it was investigating whether the huge blackout was caused by “an act of computer sabotage on critical infrastructure”.
By 7am local time (5am GMT), more than 99 percent of energy demand in Spain had been restored, the country’s electricity operator Red Eléctrica said.
Portuguese grid operator REN said Tuesday morning all of the 89 power substations were back online since late last night after an “absolutely unusual” blackout and power was restored to all 6.4 million customers.
As power returned, the nations reeled from the still-unexplained widespread blackout that had turned airports and train stations into campgrounds for stranded travellers.
In Madrid, cheers erupted from balconies where the electricity had returned. – France 24
