Power Outage in Spain and Portugal Disrupts Travel and Services

2025-04-29 global

Madrid, Tuesday, 29 April 2025.
Spain and Portugal experienced a major power outage on April 28, disrupting transportation and services. The cause remains unclear, but a cyberattack has been ruled out.

Widespread Impact Across Critical Infrastructure

The power outage on April 28, 2025, affected a wide range of services across Spain and Portugal, grounding flights, halting trains, and leaving traffic lights non-functional. Major cities such as Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, as well as Lisbon and Porto in Portugal, experienced significant disruptions [1][2][3]. The public transportation system was notably impacted, with subways and buses coming to a standstill, further complicating the daily lives of millions [4][5].

Internet and Communication Challenges

Internet connectivity across Spain and Portugal plummeted due to the outage, with Portugal’s DNS request traffic dropping by 40% and eventually reaching levels almost 90% below normal [3]. The telecommunications infrastructure suffered as well; with mobile networks disrupted and people unable to make phone calls, exacerbating the travel chaos and communication difficulties [2][3]. Many relied on news updates and social media via mobile devices, though service was sporadic [2].

Restoration Efforts and Investigation

Efforts to restore power were underway by April 29, 2025, with nearly 99% of Spain’s energy demand met and Lisbon’s power nearly fully restored [4][6]. Authorities in both countries have called for thorough investigations to determine the exact cause of the outage, which preliminary reports link to a fault in the Spanish electricity grid due to extreme temperature variations [3][5]. European coordination played a role, with electricity being sourced from Morocco and France to stabilize the grid [4][7].

Avoiding Future Disruptions

The scale of the power outage has prompted urgent discussions on the resilience of Europe’s energy infrastructure. Spanish and Portuguese governments emphasized the need for upgraded systems and better safeguards against potential threats [5]. Officials ruled out a cyber-attack, focusing instead on potential technical failures in the interconnected grid as primary culprits [1][4]. A report detailing preventative measures and infrastructure upgrades is expected to be published in mid-May 2025 [1][6].

Sources

Spain power outage travel chaos