Spain and Portugal experienced their worst blackout in history on Monday, April 28, 2025, with effects also briefly reaching parts of France.
The massive power outage paralyzed public transportation and created chaos at airports. It also left countless people stranded in elevators and metro stations across the Iberian Peninsula.
Authorities scrambled to restore electricity as traffic lights failed, causing gridlock in major cities like Madrid and Lisbon.
Spanish grid operator REE later identified two incidents of power generation loss. These events were likely caused by solar plants in southwest Spain, which triggered instability in the electrical system and led to a breakdown in interconnection with France. According to The Daily Mail, the sudden outage caused the equivalent of 60% of Spain’s demand to drop in just five seconds. Officials ruled out a cyberattack as the cause but still couldn’t fully explain why the cascade failure occurred.
Portuguese and Spanish authorities immediately activated emergency protocols. Spain also declared a state of emergency across multiple regions and deployed 30,000 police officers.
How The Power Outage Disrupted Daily Life
The outage transformed ordinary activities into challenges as citizens navigated darkened streets and buildings. In Madrid, traffic piled up after traffic lights failed.
Luis Ibáñez Jiménez told CNN: “I was driving and suddenly there [were] no traffic lights … It was a bit of a jungle.”
The Madrid Open tennis tournament suspended play as scoreboards went dark and overhead cameras lost power. Tourists faced difficulties too. Hundreds waited in darkness at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado airport with no air conditioning or running water.
Public transportation systems in both countries ground to a halt. Spanish train operator Renfe reported that trains had stopped and departures were being canceled nationwide. Madrid’s metro system shut down completely, leaving passengers stranded. Airport operator AENA reported flight delays throughout Spain. Furthermore, Portugal’s airport management company ANA activated emergency generators at Porto and Faro airports, with Lisbon operating “with limitations.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez personally visited Red Eléctrica’s control center as the government worked to determine the origin and impact of the massive outage. By Tuesday, April 29, power was back in most affected areas, and schools reopened, with public transport slowly returning to normal operation. However, many businesses faced significant losses, particularly restaurants and bars that had to discard perishable goods after refrigeration systems failed for more than eight hours.
