Millions were plunged into darkness across Spain, Portugal, and parts of France on Monday, April 28, 2025, as a massive power outage disrupted daily life for countless residents. The blackout affected transportation, businesses, and essential services, leading to widespread chaos. By Tuesday morning, April 29, power had largely been restored, but the cause of the outage remains under investigation.
The outage, which impacted approximately 50 million people in the Iberian Peninsula, saw traffic lights go dark, trains come to a halt, and businesses close their doors. In Lisbon, Portugal, the main airport's terminals were forced to shut down, and many other major hubs resorted to generator power to operate. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez reported that by 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, more than 95 percent of the electricity supply had been recovered in Spain. Meanwhile, Portugal's electricity and gas supplier, REN, confirmed that all substations were back online and operating at full capacity.
Officials are currently investigating the cause of the blackout. According to the Portuguese energy company REN, extreme temperature variations in the interior of Spain may have led to "anomalous oscillations" in the very high voltage lines, a phenomenon referred to as "induced atmospheric vibration." However, Spain's Meteorological Agency stated that there were no unusual meteorological or atmospheric phenomena detected on the day of the outage, nor were there sudden temperature fluctuations noted at their weather stations.
During the outage, chaos ensued as hospitals in Spain were forced to rely on generators to provide care. Public transport systems ground to a halt, with Spain's national rail company suspending all train services. Subways in several cities, including Valencia and Madrid, were also halted, while the Madrid Open tennis tournament postponed all afternoon and evening matches.
Eduardo Prieto, the director of services for Spain's national power company, Red Eléctrica, indicated that there were no definitive conclusions about the reasons for the outage, although he ruled out the possibility of a cyberattack. The Spanish Prime Minister mentioned that a committee of technical experts, along with representatives from the European Commission, would investigate the causes, with expectations for answers within "hours or days," though some officials suggested it could take weeks for a thorough analysis.
Kristian Ruby, secretary general of Eurelectric, a trade body representing the European electricity industry, noted that around noon on Monday, a high-voltage connection between France and Spain was interrupted, which was followed by the power outage just over 30 minutes later. Ruby described the incident as "somewhere on the scale between a 50- to 100-year event," underscoring the unusual nature of the failure.
As the blackout unfolded, residents faced additional challenges. Long lines formed at ATMs and grocery stores as credit card readers malfunctioned. Many people resorted to cash transactions, with clerks using pen and paper to record sales. Diana Alfia, an employee at a hostel in Lisbon, reported that some people opted to go to the beach due to limited options, while others walked miles from the airport into the city as ride-sharing services and public transportation were unavailable.
Temperatures across Spain were reported to be between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit at the time of the outage, reaching highs of 82 to 87 degrees later in the day. This spike in temperature was higher than the average for April, which typically sees temperatures around 64 degrees in central and northern regions and about 70 degrees in the south. When asked if the heat could have contributed to the outage, a spokesman for REN expressed skepticism.
The widespread blackout in Europe is not an isolated incident. Historical data shows that similar outages have occurred in the past. For instance, in 2003, more than 50 million people in Italy experienced a blackout lasting nearly a full day due to an overloaded line between Switzerland and Italy, marking the worst day of blackouts in the country since World War II. In 2006, 10 million people in Germany briefly lost power after a grid overload, and last year, much of the Balkans faced outages during a heat wave.
As the investigation continues, officials and residents alike are left grappling with the aftermath of this massive power outage. The event serves as a reminder of the vulnerabilities within interconnected electrical grids and the potential for widespread disruption in the face of unforeseen challenges.
