2025 Iberian Peninsula blackout

On Monday, 28 April 2025, at 12:33 CEST (11:33 WEST; 10:33 UTC), a major power blackout occurred across the Iberian Peninsula affecting mainland Portugal and peninsular Spain, where electric power was interrupted for about ten hours in most of the Peninsula and longer in some areas. The power cut caused severe difficulties in telecommunications, transportation systems, and essential sectors such as emergency services. At least seven people in Spain and one in Portugal may have died due to outage-related circumstances like candle fires or generator exhaust fumes. The total disconnected load was 31 GW.

Minor power cuts lasting seconds or minutes occurred in adjacent regions of Andorra and parts of southwestern France. Reports indicated problems with the European synchronous electricity grid. Traffic lights in many places stopped working, and metro lines had to be evacuated.

Grid conditions in Spain

According to the website of the Spanish electrical operator Red Eléctrica de España (REE) that documents the power grid, there was sufficient power supplied to the grid leading up to the outage. At 12:30 on 28 April, the grid was supplied with 32 gigawatts (GW) of power to meet 25 GW of demand, and was exporting 2.6 GW to Portugal, 0.87 GW to France and 0.78 GW to Morocco. The remainder was used for hydropumping (3 GW). More than half of the power supply was from solar, and electricity price was slightly negative.

Most of the power drop occurred within five seconds, when a substation in the province of Granada failed, followed by grid failures in the provinces of Badajoz and Sevilla, and the France connection decoupled at 12:33. There was a sharp drop at around 12:33 on the automatic system that monitors electricity production in Spain, and data after the event are no longer reliable, because communication systems failed as well.

The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-e) and RTVE (national television) later stated "total zero in the electricity system of the Iberian Peninsula".

Timeline

Sources:

• 12:03 – 12:07 CEST – first period of oscillations in the grid detected and mitigated.
• 12:19 – 12:21 CEST – second period of oscillations in the grid detected and mitigated. Since then the grid appeared stable, with no oscillations detected.
• 12:32:57 – 12:33:17 CEST – a series of generation trips in southern Spain, the first near Granada, the second near Badajoz and the third near Seville causes a loss of 2200 MW in generation capacity. Frequency decreased and voltage increased.
• 12:33:18 – 12:33:21 CEST – grid frequency of the Iberian Peninsula drops below 48.0 Hz. Automatic load shedding is activated.
• 12:33:21 CEST – AC lines between France and Spain tripped.
• 12:33:24 CEST – grid collapsed completely, the HVDC between France and Spain tripped.
• 12:44 CEST – first 400 kV Spain–France AC line is re-energised.
• 13:04 CEST – Spain–Morocco interconnect re-energised
• ?? – 13:30 CEST – Spanish hydro power stations capable of black start begin their black start procedures.
• 13:35 CEST – AC line between Spain and France on the eastern coast is re-energised.
• 16:11 CEST – first black start capable power plant in Portugal manages to start.
• 17:26 CEST – second black start capable power plant in Portugal manages to start.
• 18:36 CEST – 220 kV line between Spain and Portugal is re-energised.
• 21:35 CEST – 400 kV line between Spain and southern Portugal is re-energised.
• 00:22 CEST – grid fully restored in Portugal.
• 04:00 CEST – grid fully restored in Spain.

Effects

Spain

Spanish train operator Renfe said that all trains had stopped due to the outage. Around 35,000 passengers were rescued after being stranded across the rail and underground systems. Madrid's Barajas International Airport was left without power. Later in the day, airports were back to operation with 20% reduced capacity, and the Minister of Transport Óscar Puente stated that long and medium distance train services would not resume until the next day.

Telecommunications and internet services were also affected, with Netblocks saying that network traffic plunged to just 17 percent of normal usage, while satellite communications increased. Hospitals activated their backup generators and stayed mostly functional.

Spanish authorities reported that the country's nuclear power plants were taken off the grid automatically due to the loss of grid power – four reactors were generating power (3.3 GW) at the time, while three were conducting scheduled maintenance during spring when demand and prices are low. Backup generators automatically supplied cooling to keep all seven reactors safe, while some reactors prepared for re-activation.

The city of Madrid activated its emergency plan PEMAM (Plan Territorial de Emergencia Municipal del Ayuntamiento de Madrid). Most businesses and shops had to close, train and metro lines stopped, and banking was non-functional. Police had to intervene to control traffic and bring security. Confusion and fear spread in episodes reminiscent of the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020, whilst at the same time, some streets and terraces had a cheerful ambience and near-festive mood.

King Felipe VI's meeting with the president of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, was unaffected because the blackout only partially affected the Palacio de la Zarzuela, and the King was able to maintain the institutional agenda for the day. The Congress of Deputies, the Bolsa de Madrid, the Parliament of Catalonia and the Palacio de la Moncloa were left without power. The Senate suspended its parliamentary activity for 29 April.

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council about the power cut.

NASA satellite images show partial lighting in the middle of the night on Tuesday 29 April, as some areas remained offline.

The employers' organization CEOE estimated that the outage resulted in economic losses valued at €1.6 billion.

Certain institutions, such as the Ministry of Defence and the Navy headquarters, still suffered power outages on 29 April despite the general restoration of the electricity supply.

At least seven people died as a result of the blackout in Spain. Six deaths were recorded in Galicia, including three members of the same family who died of carbon monoxide poisoning believed to have been caused by a faulty gasoline generator in a home in Taboadela. The seventh death was recorded in a fire at a house in Madrid that left 13 others injured.

The Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla were unaffected. Travellers entering Gibraltar by land from Spain reported delays due to the unavailability of IT services at the Spanish border post. Gibraltar itself was not affected, as it is not connected to the European grid.

Portugal

In Portugal, the blackout made most basic services inoperational, including stores, supermarkets, pharmacies and electronic payment systems. Hospitals resorted to generators to maintain operations. Traffic lights and transit systems were brought to a halt, causing road accidents. Additional police officers were deployed to deal with traffic problems caused by the failure of traffic lights. Mobile networks also experienced severe limitations, particularly voice calls and data services.

The commuter rail and rapid transit services were stopped due to signalling problems, and trains were evacuated. Nonetheless, rail transport was not particularly affected since Comboios de Portugal were on strike that day. Electric buses, boats, ridesharing bicycles and trams were unable to depart their stations. Lisbon Airport operated with limitations and closed at around 13:00 WEST (14:00 CEST), although flights were allowed to take off from around 21:38 WEST. Meanwhile, airports in Porto and Faro switched to generator power.

During the blackout, there was a scramble to stock up on essential items such as food and water, as well as batteries, lighting devices, and radios. The state-owned water company Águas de Portugal asked consumers to moderate their water usage to prevent system failures during the power cut. Even after the blackout, certain services such as the Portuguese Tax Portal remained offline until service could be restored on Wednesday.

The cabinet of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro held an emergency meeting over the power cut, and declared an energy crisis on 28 April. The Prime Minister planned to ask the European Union for an audit of the affected electrical systems. He also took the decision to keep Tapada do Outeiro black start capability available until at least 2030 and expand that capability to at least two more locations, Alqueva Dam and Baixo Sabor Dam.

At least one person died as a result of the blackout in Portugal. The 77-year-old victim was connected to a mechanical ventilator at home 24 hours a day. According to state-owned TV channel RTP, the breathing aid ran out of battery, and the National Emergency Medical Service did not arrive in time to help her.

As with the Canary Islands, the distant island regions of Madeira and the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean have never been connected with the European grid, and they remained unaffected.