Spain & Portugal power outage LATEST: Electricity returns but cause of mass blackout still a mystery
THE lights are on and the bars are open as Spain and Portugal celebrate the return of electricity following a mass blackout.
Electricity had been restored to nearly 90% of mainland by early on Tuesday, the grid operator REE said.
Power was restored overnight to around 6.2m households in Portugal out of 6.5m, according to the national electricity grid operator.
Lights also came on again in Madrid and in Portugal’s capital, Lisbon, last night to massive cheers.
You can follow our live blog, below, for all the latest updates ...
Thanks for following us
This blog is now being paused. You can keep up to date with all the latest world news here.
'We did not put out this statement'
Portugal's grid operator REN has denied it was behind a message circulated on social media on Monday attributing the blackout to a rare atmospheric event.
The message in Portuguese said there was a "fault" in the Spanish electricity grid linked to "abnormal oscillations (that) were recorded in the very high-voltage lines (400 kV), a phenomenon known as 'induced atmospheric vibration'".
"REN confirms we did not put out this statement," spokesman Bruno Silva told AFP, without giving further details.
In case you missed it ...
Tennis star Fernando Romboli was trapped in an elevator as a power outage wreaked havoc at the Madrid Open.
The electrical issue struck much of Spain and Portugal on Monday, with the former declaring a national emergency.
Several tennis players were left stranded at Madrid's Caja Magica venue as the concourse was plunged into darkness.
You can read more about this story in the link below.
UK's mystery outage
It has emerged that Britain’s electricity grid operator is investigating mystery outages in the UK’s system hours before Spain and Portugal were plunged into blackouts.
We'll keep you updated here with any developments in this story.
Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez issues updates
Here are some of the key points from his speech earlier today at the Moncloa palace in Madrid.
- Sánchez said it is clear Spanish electrical system failed at 12.33pm, local time, and the government is investigating what happened "in those five seconds".
- "What happened cannot happen again," Sánchez told reporters.
King Felipe VI, left, and Pedro Sánchez arrival at the meeting of the National Security Council, at the Moncloa Palace today National court judge leads sabotage investigation
Spanish National Court judge José Luis Calama is leading the investigation to determine whether sabotage and cyberterrorism were at play.
He demanded a more detailed preliminary report from the grid and investigators within ten days.
In an emailed statement, he said that while the root of the blackout is still unknown “cyber terrorism is among the possibilities”.
Spain opens sabotage investigation
Spain has launched a sabotage investigation into the devastating power outages based on two mysterious "events".
The national grid released a timeline of the colossal blackout that has set alarm bells ringing - with cyberterrorism being considered.
You can read more about this story in the link below:
Suspicions of a Russian attack
Suspicions were raised of a Russian sabotage attack almost immediately after the power failed, following a campaign of similar plots to hit Europe.
Juanma Moreno, president of the Andalusian regional government, said a cyberattack is the most likely cause - and claimed that everything pointed towards a deliberate scheme.
Red Eléctrica de España, Spain's electricity board, produced a report showing an event that caused "losses of power generation" at 12:33pm - followed by another just 1.5 seconds later.
No explanation – or contingency plans if it happens again
Spain and Portugal have switched their power back on after the worst blackout in their history, though authorities have offered little explanation for what had caused it or how they would prevent it from happening again.
Power outage being analysed
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said “all the potential causes” were being analysed and warned the public “not to speculate” because of the risk of “misinformation”.
Sanchez said about 15 gigawatts of electricity, more than half of the power being consumed at the time, “suddenly disappeared” in about five seconds.
Impact in France 'minimal'
Marc Ferracci, the French Industry Minister, told RTL radio station on Tuesday that France was better prepared to prevent blackouts such as the one suffered by Spain and Portugal and that the impact in France had been minimal.
'It's impossible to serve food'
In Barcelona on Tuesday morning, bars and restaurant owners counted the cost of lost produce after half a day of their fridges and freezers being off.
Maria Luisa Pinol, 63, owner of the Granja Isabel bar in the city, told Reuters late on Monday that she had been forced to temporarily close her doors.
"Its impossible to serve food," she said. "(We're) scared it will go bad, that we have to throw away everything away. We don't know if the insurance will cover it, and, that's an economic loss besides other things too."
The morning after the night before ...
Madrid's authorities are putting on free buses to get people to work this morning after yesterday's chaos.
There are reports the Metro and some trains have started to operate, although with delays.
Overnight, rail travellers were stranded in some of Spain's main hubs, as all trains were cancelled.
In Madrid, some were forced to bed down overnight in railway stations or in the nearby Movistar Arena concert venue.
Stranded train passengers spent last night at Madrid's Atocha railway station 
Dozens of stranded train passengers also spent the night at a Madrid sport pavilion Airport delays still likely in Portugal
In Portugal, the government has said hospitals are back up and running, with airports operational albeit with hangover delays in Lisbon.
The capital's metro is also restarting operations this morning and trains are reportedly running.
Authorities pressed for explanation
The authorities in Spain and Portugal are now being pressed for an explanation of what caused one of the biggest power outages ever seen in Europe.
We'll bring you any updates on this as soon as we have them.
Welcome to the Sun's live blog
Thanks for joining us; we'll keep you updated here with all the latest news and developments.
To start us off, PA is reporting that there is still no power at the Caja Magica tennis complex that is hosting the Madrid Open this morning, putting in jeopardy the resumption of play a day after several matches had to be cancelled.
Tournament organisers said the opening of the gates for fans was delayed until 11am local time (0900 GMT) because of the outage. They did not immediately announce any schedule change regarding the matches.
"Due to reasons beyond the organisations control, the Caja Mgica is still without power supply as of this morning. As a result, the opening of the gates has been delayed, and we expect to open them at 11 a.m.," they said.
We'll bring you more on this story as it develops.
Back to power
Lights flickered back to life in Spain and Portugal early Tuesday after a massive blackout hit the Iberian peninsula, stranding passengers in trains and hundreds of elevators while millions saw phone and internet coverage die.
More than 60 per cent of Spain's national electricity supply had been restored by the end of Monday, the REE power operator said. Lights came on again in Madrid and in Portugal's capital.
In Pictures: Europe's power outage
Credit: Rex 
Credit: Reuters 
Credit: Getty 
Credit: Getty Shoppers rush to supermarkets as panic buying sweeps across Spain
Panic-stricken shoppers across Spain and even Portugal were seen clearing supermarket shelves and leaving grocery stores empty amid chaos.
Alarming pictures posted on social media show bare supermarket shelves after panic-shopping swept across the affected regions.
Footage shows people forming huge queues outside grocery stores and ATMs to stockpile essential items amid fears the mayhem could last for days.
Credit: X 
Credit: X Power outage brings chaos to Spain and Portugal
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said "all the potential causes" were being analysed and warned the public "not to speculate" because of the risk of "misinformation".
Sanchez said about 15 gigawatts of electricity, more than half of the power being consumed at the time, "suddenly disappeared" in about five seconds.
The PM was unable to say when power would be completely restored in Spain and warned that some workers would have to stay home on Tuesday.
How severe was the Heathrow outage?
Just a month ago, a catastrophic power failure at one of the substations near Heathrow airport caused chaos.
The substation was the site of an enormous blaze, with 25,000 litres of cooling oil igniting in a fireball.
Although the cause of the fire is still unknown, it forced Heathrow to shut down for 18 hours, causing travel misery for 300,000 passengers.
More than 100 flights arriving and departing were cancelled.
Counter-terrorism officers from the Metropolitan Police initially led the investigation before the force confirmed the fire was believed to be non-suspicious.
Credit: AP
Second serious power outage within two months
Spain had recovered nearly 50% of its power by 11 pm, and the prime minister pledged that the entire country of 48 million would have lights back on by the end of Tuesday.
It was the second serious European power outage in less than six weeks after a March 20 fire shut down Heathrow Airport in the U,K and it came as authorities across Europe gird against sabotage backed by Russia.
People cheer with excitement as lights turn on in Madrid
People cheer with excitement as lights turn on in MadridPortugal's power to be fully restored in coming hours
Portugal's Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said on Monday power in the country would be fully restored in the coming hours after a massive outage hit the Iberian Peninsula most of the day.
He said all the state services remained operating in the country despite all the difficulties.
Spanish PM says nearly half of national power supply restored
Nearly 50 percent of Spain's electricity supply was restored late Monday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said but added that some workers would have to stay home Tuesday.
"According to electrical grid data, nearly 50 percent of the electricity supply has already been restored. The goal is to continue restoring the supply over the coming hours," he said in a televised address, notably with electricity being sent from France and Morocco.
Sanchez could not say when power would be completely restored and added that some people would be unable to work Tuesday.