Spain’s entire electricity grid cut off, widespread outages reported

Large parts of Spain and Portugal, including respective capitals Madrid and Lisbon, have been hit by a massive power outage. The cause of the blackouts aren’t yet clear.

According to Spain’s electricity grid operator Red Electrica, power outages have been reported across the whole country. The country’s national railway company, Renfe, said that Spain’s “entire National Electricity Grid was cut off” at 12:30pm local time.

Trains have stopped, and there are traffic jams in Madrid and other cities due to traffic lights not working. The capital’s underground is being evacuated. The power is also out at Madrid’s Barajas Airport, the busiest in Spain.

In short, it’s a mess. Moreover, power cuts have been reported in neighboring Portugal and parts of France, too. Traffic lights have been affected across Portugal, and the metro lines were closed in both Lisbon and Porto.

However, Red Electrica soon said in a post on X that the operator is beginning to recover power “in the north and south of the peninsula which is key to gradually meeting the electricity supply.”

➡️Empezamos a recuperar tensión por el norte y sur peninsular, clave para atender progresivamente el suministro de electricidad.

➡️Es un proceso que conlleva la energización paulatina de la red de transporte a medida que los grupos de generación se acoplen.

Continuamos…

undefined Red Eléctrica (@RedElectricaREE) April 28, 2025

“This process involves the gradual energization of the transmission grid as the generating units are connected. We continue working to restore supply,” said the company.

The outage appears to have been massive, even though its cause is unknown. Barcelona, Seville, and Valencia have all been severely affected.

"The causes are not yet known, or at least they have not yet been made clear. It seems to be attributed to damage to the infrastructure, to the electrical grid," Ramon Mateo, a consultant at beBartlet in Madrid, told Cybernews.

UPDATE: Spain / Portugal / south of France blackout.

Spain remains extremely short of power, with rolling blackouts hitting most of the country. Official data shows demand (= supply) running at ~10 GW now, significantly below the 26 GW pre-outage.

This is a massive blackout. pic.twitter.com/VoGkJHquTi

undefined Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) April 28, 2025

Spain’s government has called a crisis meeting at the offices of the country's grid operator. Prime minister Pedro Sanchez has travelled to Red Electrica’s headquarters.

Reports from ordinary people have begun to pile in on social media and in the press. Maddie Sephton, a Londoner, told Sky News she was riding on the underground train when “everything went dark.”

Passengers were stuck on the carriage for around 20 minutes until its doors were opened manually. They then had to hike up 15 flights of stairs to exit the station, said Sephton.

Needless to say, bars, cafes, and restaurants haven’t been able to take card payments, and the cash machines have gone offline as well. Chefs were using their phone torches to keep on cooking meals.

The immediate danger is very real. The Spanish health ministry said in a social media update that it was “assessing the scope of the widespread blackout,” but sought to reassure the public that “hospitals have supplementary systems” in place.