A massive blackout paralyzed Spain and Portugal, leaving tens of millions of people without electricity. How did it affect businesses and infrastructure? Highlights from the WSJ, Wired and NYT analyses
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At noon on April 28, Spain and Portugal experienced a sudden power outage. Electricity was also lost in some regions of France, according to Reuters. But supplies were quickly restored. The cause of the accident is being investigated, but the governments of Spain and Portugal are currently ruling out sabotage, writes NYT. There are no signs of a cyberattack, says European Council President Antonio Costa.
The gradual restoration of power supply was helped by connections to the French and Moroccan electrical systems. By the evening of April 28, Spain had restored about 50% of electricity, and in Portugal, two important substations near Lisbon were reconnected and supplies in Porto stabilized, the WSJ writes.
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Authorities in the countries were preparing for a “long night”, emphasizing that full restoration of electricity would take longer than expected.
Passengers stand next to a stopped RENFE AVE train near Cordoba on April 28, 2025, during a power outage that affected the entire Iberian Peninsula and southern France. Photo by Getty Images
Paralyzed logistics and banks
One of the first sectors to be hit was transport infrastructure. In Spain, all rail services, including the metro in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and other cities, were halted. National operator Renfe said trains were suspended at all stations. More than 35,000 passengers were stranded on train tracks, sometimes in remote areas that were difficult for rescuers to reach.
The situation at airports was somewhat better: thanks to backup generators, flights continued partially, but more than 150 flights were canceled and hundreds more were delayed. The government reported that the number of takeoffs and landings had dropped by 30%, the WSJ notes. Airlines, including TAP Air Portugal, advised passengers to refrain from traveling to airports without prior notice.
Traffic in cities was paralyzed by outages of traffic lights and road signs. In the Spanish city of Murcia, police took control of major intersections and prepared to maintain order overnight without traffic lights and surveillance cameras, the NYT added.
Bank branches closed in the first hours of the blackout, ATMs were also out of service, and shops and restaurants were cash-only. Online banking and digital payment systems were partially operational.
Shoppers lined up in long lines outside supermarkets and grocery stores to buy water, dry goods and candles. The stores were eventually forced to close. In some cases, products were even given away free of charge as an act of mutual aid, the NYT writes.
The Portuguese government declared an energy emergency to prioritize restoring electricity to hospitals and telecommunications hubs. In Spain, similar measures were followed at the regional level. Hospitals were running on autonomous generators.
Courts and educational institutions were also closed. Large-scale events were also canceled, including the Madrid Open tennis tournament.
A queue outside a Lidl supermarket after a power and water outage, Matosinhos, Portugal, April 28, 2025. Photo by Getty Images
Tests for mobile operators
The blackout also paralyzed mobile networks in Spain and Portugal. Operators worked in extraordinary conditions, trying to maintain at least minimal coverage with backup power sources. Vodafone Spain said that its network remained active at 70% thanks to the use of generators, writes WSJ. At the same time, Orange asked its customers to limit phone calls and use mobile Internet only in case of extreme necessity to avoid overloading the network.
Due to the instability of the power supply, mobile communication failures had several levels. Some of the base stations serving mobile Internet and voice traffic failed due to battery depletion or difficulties in delivering generators. Traffic increased sharply: millions of people tried to contact relatives or find out what was happening in the news. The networks could not withstand such a load. Therefore, in many regions of Spain and Portugal, mobile Internet completely disappeared, as did the communication itself, writes Wired.
Another problem was the complete or partial unavailability of digital services. For the first half hour after the start of the disaster, updates could still be received via mobile news apps, but later many websites stopped working due to connection drops. This caused an information vacuum.
Spanish authorities urged citizens to remain calm and stay home if possible, but it was difficult to spread these messages precisely because of communication problems.
Portuguese network operator REN told the BBC in a statement that the blackout was caused by “extreme temperature changes in the interior of Spain.” High-voltage lines (400 kV) experienced anomalous oscillations known as “atmospheric induced vibration,” Wired reports. Spain has not yet officially commented on the statement.
