Published
in Economy
On April 28, 2025, over 60 million people across Spain and Portugal were left without power during one of the largest blackouts in modern European history. The massive outage revealed critical vulnerabilities in the continent’s energy grid.
At 12:33 PM local time, a sudden loss of 15 gigawatts—equivalent to 60% of Spain’s energy demand—caused cascading failures across the Iberian Peninsula. Within seconds, automatic systems disconnected Spain and Portugal from the rest of the European grid to prevent further damage.
All major railways, metros, and airports in Spain and Portugal came to a standstill. Traffic signals failed, causing severe congestion and accidents. Mobile networks and ATMs were down. Overcrowding at stations and lack of information led to mass confusion and frustration among citizens.
The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) reported that the power loss originated within Spain's high-voltage transmission system. Emergency protocols successfully prevented the blackout from spreading to France and other countries.
Experts noted the unusual speed of the outage, with 15 GW disappearing in under five seconds. This anomaly raises concerns about grid resilience under automated, centralized management. While most European countries remained stable, Spain’s heavy reliance on real-time energy imports made it highly vulnerable. No cyberattack has been confirmed, but investigations continue.
The blackout was triggered by a sudden loss of 15 gigawatts of power—over half the region's total demand—causing automatic disconnection from the European grid.
The outage lasted for approximately 17 hours, with most areas regaining full power supply by the morning of April 29, 2025.
France and Andorra experienced minor disturbances, but the rest of Europe remained stable thanks to automatic protective disconnection of the Iberian grid.
The exact cause is still under investigation. Theories include transmission faults or software errors, but no cyberattack has been confirmed.
