⚡ Massive Blackout Hits Iberian Peninsula
On April 28, 2025, a sudden and widespread power outage plunged mainland Portugal, peninsular Spain, Andorra, and parts of southwestern France into darkness for nearly 10 hours. The blackout disrupted telecommunications, halted metro services, and caused traffic chaos as signals failed. Hospitals and emergency services were severely strained. At least seven fatalities in Spain have been linked to the outage, including incidents involving candle fires and generator fumes. The cause remains unknown, though grid data showed a sharp drop in generation—especially from nuclear and coal sources—within seconds. Solar power continued to provide some supply, but nuclear capacity took days to recover. The Spanish grid operator REE and European authorities are still investigating the root cause. Meanwhile, Ukraine has offered technical assistance based on its experience with wartime infrastructure resilience.