Business group says power outage in Spain caused €1.6bn in damages

The massive power outage on Monday caused economic damage in Spain amounting to approximately €1.6 billion ($1.8 billion), according to the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE).

This corresponds to about 0.1 percentage point of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), the confederation stated upon request on Wednesday.

The newspaper El País reported that some bank analysts even expected losses ranging from €2.25 billion to €4.5 billion. However, according to the paper, other experts believed that the damages might be lower because some production losses could still be compensated over the course of the year.

The power outage largely paralysed the country for more than 10 hours. Many industrial companies, such as Volkswagen in Pamplona and its subsidiary Seat near Barcelona, had to interrupt production.

Some industrial facilities reportedly suffered damage due to the abrupt interruption of the power supply.

The food industry and retail sector also complained of significant losses, for example, due to interrupted cold chains. Many supermarkets had to dispose of their entire chilled and frozen inventory because the food had become too warm.

Many shops and restaurants closed early, cash machines failed, and card payments were no longer possible everywhere.

Construction sites came to a standstill, long-distance trains stopped on open tracks, and underground trains halted in tunnels.

There were still no confirmed details about the cause of the largest power outage in the country’s history. Spain’s government announced a meticulous investigation.

There was also a widespread power outage in Portugal on Monday.