On Monday, April 28, 2025, at around 12:30 p.m. local time, a massive power outage affected large parts of Spain, Portugal, and southern France. The Spanish grid operator Red Eléctrica reported a sudden drop in electricity demand. In Portugal, the outage caused disruptions to telecommunications services and hospitals that relied on emergency power supplies, as well as public transportation – traffic lights across the country failed, and subways and trains stopped operating. In Spain, metro services in Madrid and the Masters tennis tournament in the capital were among those interrupted. Southern France also experienced outages, particularly in areas connected to the Spanish power grid. The causes of the blackout are still under investigation.
As of April 28, 2025, 3:15 p.m. CEST
Zeit Online (2025): Großer Stromausfall in Spanien, Portugal und Teilen Frankreichs. Retrieved 28/04/2025 under: https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2025-04/stromausfall-spanien-portugal-frankreich
Tagesschau (2025): Massiver Stromausfall in Spanien und Portugal. Retrieved 28/04/2025 under: https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/europa/spanien-portugal-stromausfall-100.html
Bayerische Rundfunk (2025): “Massiver Stromausfall” in Spanien sowie Portugal und Frankreich. Retrieved 28/04/2025 under: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/deutschland-welt/massiver-stromausfall-in-spanien-sowie-portugal-und-frankreich,Ujf5Cgs
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