Major power outage disrupts life in Spain and Portugal
- A major power outage affected numerous regions in Spain and Portugal on April 28, 2025.
- Essential services, including subways, phone lines, and traffic control systems, were disrupted during the outage.
- Government officials convened to assess and address the widespread impact of the outage.
On April 28, 2025, a significant power outage impacted large areas of Spain and Portugal, affecting major cities including their capitals, Madrid and Lisbon. The outage began around midday local time and caused widespread disruptions such as non-operational subway networks, traffic lights, and ATM services. In Spain, the outages resulted in the evacuation of part of the Madrid underground, while traffic jams formed in the city center due to malfunctioning signals. In Lisbon, the metro was also closed, and there were reports of trains not running across Portugal. The cause of the outage is being investigated, with both Spanish and Portuguese officials suggesting that the issues originated from problems in the European electricity system, hinting at a broader underlying problem rather than localized failures within the two countries. The Portuguese Cabinet held an emergency meeting in response to the situation, while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez monitored the recovery efforts at Red Eléctrica, the Spanish electricity grid operator. E-Redes, the company responsible for distribution in Portugal, indicated that it was working on restoring power in phases, with the expectation of reestablishing connection progressively. Spanish media reported that the demand for electricity saw a dramatic decline, indicating a drop from 27,500MW to about 15,000MW just around the start of the outage, showing the scale of the disruption. The impact on daily life was significant, as backup power systems were activated in Portugal's essential services, although some issues persisted, including difficulties in making mobile phone calls, though certain applications continued to work. Residents were seen lining up at stores for generators, and business activities came to a halt in various sectors. The event highlighted the interconnected nature of the European electricity supply system, emphasizing that failures in one region can have ripple effects across borders, affecting millions and calling for a consolidated response and robust infrastructure in the future.