Spain, Portugal say massive power outage nearly resolved

Spain’s power grid operator has restored electricity supplies to about half of the country after a huge power outage brought the Iberian Peninsula to a standstill, and the rest should be restored by Tuesday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says.

Authorities are yet to establish what caused the blackout and are not ruling out any hypothesis, he adds in a televised address.

La Vanguardia newspaper has reported that the massive outage was caused by a failure of the interconnection between the grids of Spain and France, quoting Spanish grid operator REE’s system operations chief Eduardo Prieto.

Meanwhile, Portugal’s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro says power in the country will be fully restored in the coming hours.

He says all the state services have remained operating in the country despite all the difficulties.