On April 28, 2025, a major blackout affected Spain and Portugal, causing serious disruptions across the Iberian Peninsula. Around 12:33 p.m., Spain’s power grid lost about 15 gigawatts, which represented nearly 60% of the country’s energy demand, according to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. The sudden loss left millions of people without electricity, internet, or phone services. Train operations stopped, airports faced delays, and subways closed in cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon. Emergency services evacuated approximately 35,000 train passengers. Red Eléctrica, Spain’s power operator, reported that 92% of power was restored by early Tuesday morning. The Portuguese government stated that the problem seemed to originate outside the country. Spain also received emergency electricity supplies from Morocco and France to accelerate the recovery. Authorities emphasized that an investigation was ongoing, and no cyberattack evidence had been found.

Efforts to stabilize the power supply included increasing production at hydroelectric and combined cycle thermal plants. Spain’s National Security Council held an extraordinary meeting to coordinate the national response. Backup generators kept hospitals and emergency services operating, but many businesses and ATMs remained closed. The outage also caused delays at Spanish airports and forced the temporary suspension of events like the Madrid Open tennis tournament. European officials, including Teresa Ribera, described the event as one of the most serious power incidents in Europe in recent times. Despite the challenges, communities showed resilience, gathering in parks and public spaces. The blackout highlighted the vulnerability of modern infrastructure and the importance of enhancing energy system resilience, contingency, coordination, stabilization, and recovery measures for future emergencies.