Traffic lights are down across Portugal, but no trains are running: Portuguese and Spain’s electricity systems are recovering despite a European grid outage
Portuguese police are reporting that traffic lights are down across the country, according to Reuters, alongside the metro in Lisbon and Porto being shut down and trains not running. According to a statement from the Portuguese national energy supplier E- Redes, the interruption was caused by a problem in the electrical grid in Europe and also due to faults in high voltages in Spain and France. The Basque Coast and the Burgundy region were also affected by the outages, according to the energy supplier.
The Spanish directorate-general for traffic is telling people not to drive because lights and road signs are out. All power has been restored in the Basque region according to the electricity transmission system operator.
The graph on the electricity network website showed a huge drop around 12:15 p.m., from 27,000 to just over 15000megawatts.
A couple of hours later, Spain’s electricity network operator said it was recovering power in the north and south of the peninsula, which would help to progressively restore the electricity supply nationwide.
It seems that it was a problem with the distribution network in Spain. It’s still being ascertained,” Cabinet Minister Leitão Amaro was quoted as saying.
Sky News says that play has stopped at Madrid Open. Traffic lights in Madrid aren’t operating, and the underground rail system has been evacuated. Spanish airport operator Aena said onX that backup generators are currently active at impacted airports, which is also the case in Spain and Portugal. Emergency services in Madrid are still running on backup generators.