A total blackout plunged Spain and Portugal in confusion. Electricity returned this Tuesday morning in the two countries, after long hours of a giant power cut, who touched the entire Iberian Peninsula Monday on Mid-day and disrupted air and rail traffic.
The origin of the breakdown was still unknown Tuesday at midday, but the justice and the Spanish government will investigate a possible computer sabotage.
What happened?
The failure, of “exceptional” magnitude according to the manager of the Spanish network Ree, started at 12:33 in Spain and 11:33 in Portugal. The failure affected the entire Iberian Peninsula, nearly 55 million people, as well as briefly Several localities of the French Basque CountryBorder region of Spain. The French manager of the electricity network, RTE, quickly gave the current there.
But in Spain and Portugal, the restart of the electrical system was much slower: the inhabitants often had to wait 10 or even 20 hours to have electricity. This Mega-Panne caused chaos in the two countries, where the inhabitants were deprived of current but also of the Internet and mobile telephony. In large cities, many traffic jams have formed, the signal lights that have stopped working.
The cut has also stopped metros networks and all rail traffic. The Directorate General of Road Traffic (DGT) Spanish had asked motorists not to circulate. In Spain, the authorities had to help more than 35,000 passengers blocked in 116 trains, for some for more than ten hours.
Air traffic has also been disrupted, notably at Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon airports, according to the European sky surveillance organization Eurocontrol. The disturbances were however limited, airports benefiting, such as hospitals, from rescue generators. The Madrid and Barcelona hospital centers had to cancel routine medical treatments.
Spanish power plants, especially nuclear, were also stopped, a normal security procedure in the event of an electricity cut. This giant breakdown may have had consequences to Greenland, part of which was deprived Monday evening of all its means of communication (telephone, SMS, Internet), partly managed from Spain.
Back to normal
Electricity was restored in the almost integrality of Spain and Portugal on Tuesday morning, allowing gradual return to normal life in the two countries. “After an intense night, we managed to restore electricity to satisfy 99.95 % of the demand,” said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Tuesday morning, confirming the figures for the Red Electrica network manager (REE).
Peninsular electrical system situation at 07: 00h:
➡️ 99.95% of demand (25,794mw).
➡️ We have worked from the Electrical Control Center for the total normalization of the system.
– Electric Red (@redelectricaree) April 29, 2025
The return of the current made it possible to restore rail traffic on several main axes, including Madrid-Séville and Madrid-Barcelona, according to the national company Renfe. Traffic remained on Tuesday morning suspended on several other major axes, the authorities having given priority to the restoration of suburban trains. In Madrid, the traffic of metros remains at this stage suspended on certain lines, but bars and shops have gradually reopened their doors.
Portuguese manager Ren has assured Tuesday morning that the country’s electricity network was “perfectly stabilized” and that the 6.4 million Portuguese customers were supplied with electricity. “All of the national transport network was restored” and “it can be said that the network is perfectly stabilized,” a ren spokesman told AFP.
“We have restored the network 100 %,” said E-Redes, the company responsible for distributing electricity to end customers. “Trains work”, “airports are operational” and fuel supply is “normalized,” added the Portuguese government in a statement.
In the streets of the Spanish cities, the return of the current on Monday evening was often accompanied by applause and cries of joy of the inhabitants.
What is the possible origin of this failure?
On Monday evening, the authorities were well worth explaining what had been able to cause the giant electricity cut. Several hypotheses have been put forward, including that of a cyber attack.
According to the daily El Pais, the National Spanish Intelligence Center (CNI) opened an investigation on Monday to examine this track. But “in view of the analyzes we were able to carry out”, with the help notably of the CNI, “we can rule out a cybersecurity incident,” said Eduardo Prieto, director of Ree operations on Tuesday, specifying that “no intrusion” had been detected in the control systems. For its part, the Portuguese government also dismissed the track of a cyber attack on Tuesday.
On social networks, a rumor emanating from a false press release assigned to the Portuguese network manager Ren has also reported a “rare atmospheric phenomenon” which could have caused a “flaw” of the system. Ren denied this press release on Tuesday. “No unusual meteorological or atmospheric phenomenon has been detected,” also ensured the Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET).
The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also indicated that the electric mega-pane was not linked to a lack of nuclear energy in Spain, rejecting the criticisms issued in particular by the far-right party Vox.
The Spanish government has created a commission of inquiry into the causes of the Mega-Panne. “Electric network technicians continue to carry out an analysis of their system. We are waiting to receive their preliminary results in the coming hours or next few days, “Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Tuesday at a press conference.” No hypothesis will be dismissed until we have these analysis results, “he also said.
For its part, the Spanish justice “opened a preliminary investigation to determine whether the power failure occurred yesterday in the Spanish electricity network which affected the whole country, could be an act of cyber-sabotage against Spanish critical infrastructure and, if this is the case, could be qualified as a terrorist offense,” said justice in a statement sent to AFP.
