🔌 Major Power Outage Hits Spain and Portugal

On April 28, Spain and Portugal were hit by a large-scale power outage that affected vast portions of the Iberian Peninsula. According to national grid operators, the disruption began at 12:33 PM local time when Spain’s electricity demand suddenly dropped from 25 GW to just over 10 GW.

Spain’s Red Eléctrica de España (REE) described the event as unprecedented. Power recovery began shortly after the drop, with northern and southern regions prioritized. Full restoration is expected to take 6–10 hours, according to REE’s operations director Eduardo Prieto.

In Portugal, grid operator REN linked the outage to a fault originating in the Spanish grid, triggered by an exceptionally rare atmospheric phenomenon that caused significant oscillations in high-voltage lines—possibly due to extreme temperature shifts.

As a precaution, four of Spain’s seven nuclear reactors automatically shut down and alerted the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN). These reactors are now in the process of reconnecting to the grid.

During the incident, Iberia was automatically disconnected from the broader European power grid between 12:38 PM and 1:30 PM. France’s grid operator RTE confirmed that the French grid remained secure and experienced no cascading issues. Power in the French Basque Country was briefly interrupted but has since been fully restored.

RTE has stepped in to support REE, restoring 700 MW of power with capacity to increase support to 950 MW. The European Commission, together with ENTSO-E, is actively engaging with Spanish and Portuguese authorities to monitor the situation. European Council President António Costa confirmed there is no current evidence of a cyberattack.

Investigations are ongoing to determine the exact cause of the outage, with energy leaders across Europe collaborating closely on recovery and resilience strategies.