Spain’s High Court will investigate whether a cyberattack may have caused one of Europe's most severe blackouts which plunged the Iberian peninsula into darkness.
Power has now returned to households in Spain and neighbouring Portugal. Investigators still looking into the cause of the blackout, which remains unclear, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez said Tuesday afternoon.
The investigation comes despite Spain's grid operator REE all but ruling out a cyberattack in its preliminary assessment of the outage, which prompted travel chaos and left many without water, Wi-Fi or mobile network for hours.
If a cyberattack were found to be behind the blackout, Judge Jorge Calama would investigate it as a crime of terrorism, a court document showed.
Despite power being returned around Spain and Portugal on Tuesday morning, travel chaos continued into its second day with large bustling crowds still in Madrid’s train station.
Around 500 flights were cancelled in total due to the blackout, according to an estimate by The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder.
"What happened yesterday cannot ever happen again," Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez said Tuesday afternoon, vowing to hold private operators to account.
Read More
Key Points
- Madrid court to investigate whether cyberattack caused blackout
- Spanish PM vows 'never again' and demands accountability for private companies
- Tens of thousands stranded by flight cancellations
- Portugal fully recovers from blackout, says government
- More than 99 per cent of Spain's energy demand restored
- What may have caused nationwide blackouts?
No 10 reject claims that renewable power caused Spain-Portugal power cuts
03:54
,
Shweta Sharma
Downing Street has dismissed suggestions that a reliance on renewable power was behind outages in Spain and Portugal, after Kemi Badenoch said it was likely to be the cause.
A No 10 spokesperson rejected “unfounded claims, and speculation” after the Conservative Party leader said the UK's net zero plans could lead to domestic blackouts.
Mrs Badenoch said she had heard "different theories" about what happened in Spain and Portugal.
"Some have said that it's cyber terrorism, but the more likely issue is the grid - that when you have an electricity supply that's reliant on renewables, you need a lot of battery storage.
"And quite often, what we're seeing is renewables running ahead of the storage facilities, which means that when you have surges one way or another, you end up with blackouts.
"And this is one of the reasons why I've been saying that the net zero plans we have are not thought through.
"That we're rushing ahead without having the right infrastructure in place and actually doing things that could end up bankrupting the country or creating blackouts."
She scrapped her party's commitment to net zero by 2050 in a U-turn last month, saying it would be impossible to reach.
A No 10 spokesman said it is too early to confirm the cause of the incident and defended the government's energy transition plans.
"In terms of the claims of reliance on net zero energy leaving countries affected vulnerable to power cuts, these are unfounded claims, and speculation at this stage," he said.
Switching to clean energy offers security and a supply of electricity that fossil fuels cannot provide, he added.
"We've empowered the national energy system operator to carry out resilience functions across electricity and gas systems, and we'll continue to work with industry and regulators to improve and maintain the resilience of old, new and future energy infrastructure," he said.
Energy secretary Ed Miliband warned earlier not to "jump to conclusions about what happened" and said he had been in touch with the UK's National Energy System Operator (Neso) after the outages in Spain and Portugal.
Watch: Sanchez says Spain will not allow blackout again and vows accountability for private companies
03:00
,
Alex Croft
Portugal requests independent EU audit of blackout
02:00
,
Alex Croft
Portugal has requested that an EU agency independently audit the power outage which hit the Iberian peninsula the day before;
Acting prime minister Luis Montenegro said his government has asked for the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators to perform an independent audit of the outage.
"We want a full investigation of the outage's causes. We need quick, urgent answers," Montenegro told a news briefing.
Telecom services resume in Greenland after Spain blackout
01:00
,
Alex Croft
Telephone and internet services have been restored to remote communities in Greenland after the were cut off following the Spain blackout.
The remote areas suffered issues after crucial satellite access was cut out in far-away Spain, the Arctic island’s state-owned telecoms group Tusass said on Tuesday.
Tusass said it had lost connection to satellite equipment based in Spain that provides telephone, internet, TV and radio services.
"It's because of an error some 3,000 km (1,900 miles) away," a Tusass spokesperson told Reuters, adding that connection had been restored overnight.
In 2023, Tusass selected the Maspalomas ground station in Spain’s Gran Canaria island off the west coast of Africa as the hub for its new satellite network which provides a critical lifeline for some of Greenland's most isolated communities.
UK looking into how to deal with ‘challenges and threats’, minister says after Iberian outages
Wednesday 30 April 2025 00:00
,
Alex Croft
The UK has been looking at how to deal with “different kinds of challenges and threats”, the home secretary has said, after the major power outage in Spain and Portugal.
Asked whether the power cut there had triggered a fear that British infrastructure could be affected in the same way, Yvette Cooper told Sky News that the UK has a “continued approach” to “resilience” and “security issues”.
She added: “We’ve been looking, as part of wider security reviews across the country, how we deal with both resilience and also different kinds of challenges and threats.
“Some of which can be the traditional security challenges, some of which can be the kinds of resilience – things that we're talking about in Spain and Portugal – and we obviously support them and the governments there in the work that they’re doing.”
Watch: Emergency callouts after power outage In Spain
Tuesday 29 April 2025 23:15
,
Alex Croft
Exclusive: Tens of thousands stranded by flight cancellations after huge Spain-Portugal power outage
Tuesday 29 April 2025 22:29
,
Alex Croft
The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder reports:
After the power outage around noon on Monday 28 April hobbled airports, airlines and air-traffic control systems in Spain and Portugal, the final flight cancellation count has just been announced by aviation analysts Cirium.
Passengers travelling to, from and within Spain encountered 413 cancellations, while the score for Portugal is 372. But because many of those are links between the two countries, and are therefore “double counted,” The Independent believes the true total is around 500 – affecting an estimated 80,000 passengers.
The worst affected airport was Lisbon, with 45 per cent of departures grounded. Next was Seville, where one-third of departing flights were cancelled. In absolute terms, though, Madrid and Barcelona were the Spanish cities with the highest number of cancellations – around 50 at each.
'People were going completely crazy'
Tuesday 29 April 2025 21:48
,
Alex Croft
The Independent’s assistant editor Vicki Harper speaks with Lisbon residents following yesterday’s blackouts:
Raquel, 48 said: "People were going completely crazy, but you know when the power came on at 11pm, I didn’t even feel like looking at my phone. I know there would be a flood of messages. I quite liked the relaxing quiet for a change.”
Lara and Miguel also live in downtown Rio de Mouro: “From now on we definitely will be getting together a basic survival kit.”
Electric grid suffered two 'disconnection events'
Tuesday 29 April 2025 21:04
,
Alex Croft
More is through from Spanish electricity grid operator REE, which we earlier reported had ruled out the possibility of a cyberattack in its early assessments.
The electricity system was hit by a dramatic power generation loss in southwestern Spain, that caused instability in the system that led to its disconnection from the French grid.
Systems recovered from the first disconnection, but the second one triggered power cuts across Spain and Portugal.
That’s according to the company’s system operations chief Eduardo Prieto, who said quite possible that the affected generation was solar, but it was to early to say for sure.
Mr Prieto said the system was now stable and working normally.
Recap: What have we learnt on Tuesday?
Tuesday 29 April 2025 20:26
,
Alex Croft
Here’s all we have learnt from Tuesday about yesterday’s blackout, as the resulting chaos continues:
- The cause of the widespread blackout at 12:33pm yesterday is still unclear. But authorities have ruled out the possibility of a cyberattack and of an electricity surge caused by renewable sources.
- The electric grid suffered two ‘disconnection events’, causing instability in the system. The system recovered from the first event, but the second caused a widespread blackout, said the systems chief of Spain’s electricity grid operator REE.
- The Spanish government has vowed to hold private companies to account if they were at fault for the blackouts. Prime minister Pedro Sanchez said such an event “cannot ever happen again”.
- Around 500 planes were cancelled due to the blackout, according to an estimate by The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder based on official figures.
- Oil refineries have began operating again and life is slowly returning to normal after the power cuts, but the chaos is continuing.
In pictures: Chaos on Monday after blackouts in Portugal and Spain
Tuesday 29 April 2025 19:49
,
Alex Croft
Hundreds of flights cancelled to, from and within Spain and Portugal
Tuesday 29 April 2025 19:17
,
Alex Croft
The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder writes:
After the power outage around noon on Monday 28 April hobbled airports, airlines and air-traffic control systems, the final flight cancellation count has just been announced by aviation analysts Cirium.
Passengers travelling to, from and within Spain encountered 413 cancellations, while the score for Portugal is 372. But because many of those are links between the two countries, and are therefore “double counted,” The Independent believes the true total is around 500 – affecting an estimated 80,000 passengers.
The worst affected airport was Lisbon, with 45 per cent of departures grounded. Next was Seville, where one-third of departing flights were cancelled. In absolute terms, though, Madrid and Barcelona were the Spanish cities with the highest number of cancellations – around 50 at each.
Cirium says that 25 flights from the UK to Portugal were cancelled, along with 11 outbound flights to Spain. The same number of inbound services were affected. In total, upwards of 4,000 passengers trying to get to or from Great Britain had their flights grounded. Northern Ireland’s airports suffered no cancellations.
Travel operator easyJet issue three-day Spain and Portugal travelling warning after power blackout
Tuesday 29 April 2025 19:09
,
Alexander Butler
ICYMI: Portugal fully recovers from blackout, says government
Tuesday 29 April 2025 18:45
,
Alex Croft
Portugal has fully recovered from its blackout, with all 6.4 million electricity clients having their power supplies normalised, the government has said.
All airports are now operating although some recovery efforts are still underway in Lisbon, the government announced.
Trains are now working, schools reopening and the health service is fully stabilised.
Watch: Cheers as power starts to return in Lisbon
Tuesday 29 April 2025 18:15
,
Alex Croft
Portugal's PM and opposition leader forced to cancel election debate
Tuesday 29 April 2025 17:45
,
Alex Croft
Portugal’s prime minister Luis Montenegro and the opposition Socialist Party leader Pedro Nuno Santos both agreed to cancel a scheduled election debate on Monday as a result of the huge blackouts.
Portugal’s next election is due to take place on 18 May, in a snap vote called after Mr Montenegro’s centre-right minority government lost a confidence vote last month.
35,000 passengers stranded in trains in Spain rescued
Tuesday 29 April 2025 17:16
,
Alex Croft
Emergency workers in Spain said they rescued some 35,000 passengers stranded along railways and underground on Monday after the power cut brought the train network to a standstill.
By 11 pm, there were still 11 trains backed up by the power loss awaiting evacuation, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sïnchez said.
Hundreds of passengers were stranded between tunnels in Madrid and Lisbon after the power outage.
One passenger said “everything was on pause” as he shared the video from a train.
Evan Beckerman, co-founder of an automotive parts retailer, said he was one of those stuck at a train station, sharing a video of the chaotic scenes.
“Total power outage across Spain and Portugal… Currently waiting for a train to Valencia but EVERYTHING on pause… Now we wait,” he wrote.
ICYMI: Electricity blackout fears cause panic buying in Madrid as residents flock to supermarkets
Tuesday 29 April 2025 16:43
,
Alex Croft
Did Spain’s push for renewable energy have any impact on its mass power blackout?
Tuesday 29 April 2025 16:13
,
Alex Croft
Some have jumped on the suggestion that Spain’s push to use renewable energy had made an impact. Last year, renewables accounted for 53 per cent of the country’s power generation. Solar photovoltaic (PV) accounted for 59 per cent of Spain's electricity at the time of the blackout, wind nearly 12 per cent, nuclear almost 11 per cent and combined cycle gas plants 5 per cent, Red Electrica data showed.
In a span of just five minutes, between 12.30pm and 12.35 pm local time on Monday, solar PV generation plunged by more than 50 per cent to 8 gigawatts (GW) from more than 18 GW, the data showed.
The Independent’s climate correspondent Nick Ferris explains:
Travelling to Spain or Portugal after power outage? Simon Calder explains your rights
Tuesday 29 April 2025 15:59
,
Alex Croft
EU to investigate blackout in Spain and Portugal
Tuesday 29 April 2025 15:45
,
Alex Croft
The EU will begin a thorough investigation of the blackout in Spain and Portugal, EU energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen has said.
It comes after the Portuguese prime minister called on the EU’s Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators to perform an independent audit of the outage.
What rights do you have to compensation for cancelled flights?
Tuesday 29 April 2025 15:31
,
Alex Croft
The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder reports:
Tens of thousands of airline passengers were stranded after a sudden power outage across Spain and Portugal. Around 500 flights were cancelled, almost half of them to and from the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.
Travellers may be entitled to care while they wait – but not, as this was beyond the control of airlines, compensation. But your rights depend on where your flight begins and the airline involved.
For all flights from the UK and EU airports (as well as those in the wider EEA), European air passengers’ rights rules prevail. These were introduced in 2006 and are known as EC261. After Brexit, the UK copied and pasted the same regulations into British law as UK261.
Portugal requests independent EU audit of blackout
Tuesday 29 April 2025 15:19
,
Alex Croft
Portugal has requested that an EU agency independently audit the power outage which hit the Iberian peninsula the day before;
Acting prime minister Luis Montenegro said his government has asked for the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators to perform an independent audit of the outage.
"We want a full investigation of the outage's causes. We need quick, urgent answers," Montenegro told a news briefing.
Watch: Sanchez says Spain will not allow blackout again and vows accountability for private companies
Tuesday 29 April 2025 15:05
,
Alex Croft
Telecom services resume in Greenland after Spain blackout
Tuesday 29 April 2025 14:54
,
Alex Croft
Telephone and internet services have been restored to remote communities in Greenland after the were cut off following the Spain blackout.
The remote areas suffered issues after crucial satellite access was cut out in far-away Spain, the Arctic island’s state-owned telecoms group Tusass said on Tuesday.
Tusass said it had lost connection to satellite equipment based in Spain that provides telephone, internet, TV and radio services.
"It's because of an error some 3,000 km (1,900 miles) away," a Tusass spokesperson told Reuters, adding that connection had been restored overnight.
In 2023, Tusass selected the Maspalomas ground station in Spain’s Gran Canaria island off the west coast of Africa as the hub for its new satellite network which provides a critical lifeline for some of Greenland's most isolated communities.
Spain's High Court to investigate whether cyberattack caused blackout
Tuesday 29 April 2025 14:41
,
Alex Croft
Spain’s High Court will investigate the possibility that a cyberattack was behind the huge blackout across nearly the entire Iberian peninsula.
It comes despite claims by the country’s electric grid operator REE that a cyberattack was not the cause of the power outages, according to its early assessment.
If that were the case, Judge Jorge Calama would investigate it as a crime of terrorism, a court document showed.
Inside 12 hours of chaos in Spain during an unprecedented power blackout
Tuesday 29 April 2025 14:30
,
Alex Croft
Alex Lopez was one of dozens of people waiting in a long line at the ATM inside Hospital Clínic, a medical centres in Barcelona.
“Hospitals are one of the few places where the power grid is still working, and we want to get cash just in case,” Mr Lopez said. “I had a doctor's appointment, so we took advantage of it.”
The lights were still working in the building, with generators keeping the power flowing. People gathered at the doors to use the hospital's open Wi-Fi network, with chaos unfolding outside after the power went out around midday. The metro stopped running, 600 people had to be rescued from lifts across the region of Catalonia and traffic lights stopped working. Cars were also unable to fill up with petrol, with pumps down or payments not being able to go through.
Watch: Cheers as power starts to return in Lisbon
Tuesday 29 April 2025 14:17
,
Alex Croft
UK looking into how to deal with ‘challenges and threats’, minister says after Iberian outages
Tuesday 29 April 2025 14:05
,
Alex Croft
The UK has been looking at how to deal with “different kinds of challenges and threats”, the home secretary has said, after the major power outage in Spain and Portugal.
Asked whether the power cut there had triggered a fear that British infrastructure could be affected in the same way, Yvette Cooper told Sky News that the UK has a “continued approach” to “resilience” and “security issues”.
She added: “We’ve been looking, as part of wider security reviews across the country, how we deal with both resilience and also different kinds of challenges and threats.
“Some of which can be the traditional security challenges, some of which can be the kinds of resilience – things that we're talking about in Spain and Portugal – and we obviously support them and the governments there in the work that they’re doing.”
Oil refineries begin begin operating again after Monday blackout
Tuesday 29 April 2025 13:55
,
Alex Croft
Moeve, Spain’s second-largest oil refinery operator, said that electric power supply was restored to both its refineries late on Monday.
The plants had both been shut down following the widespread blackout on Monday.
The company will progressively restart each unit, it said on Tuesday morning.
35,000 passengers stranded in trains in Spain rescued
Tuesday 29 April 2025 13:45
,
Alex Croft
Emergency workers in Spain said they rescued some 35,000 passengers stranded along railways and underground on Monday after the power cut brought the train network to a standstill.
By 11 pm, there were still 11 trains backed up by the power loss awaiting evacuation, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sïnchez said.
Hundreds of passengers were stranded between tunnels in Madrid and Lisbon after the power outage.
One passenger said “everything was on pause” as he shared the video from a train.
Evan Beckerman, co-founder of an automotive parts retailer, said he was one of those stuck at a train station, sharing a video of the chaotic scenes.
“Total power outage across Spain and Portugal… Currently waiting for a train to Valencia but EVERYTHING on pause… Now we wait,” he wrote.
Watch: Emergency callouts after power outage In Spain
Tuesday 29 April 2025 13:35
,
Alex Croft
Exclusive: Tens of thousands stranded by flight cancellations after huge Spain-Portugal power outage
Tuesday 29 April 2025 13:25
,
Alex Croft
The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder reports:
After the power outage around noon on Monday 28 April hobbled airports, airlines and air-traffic control systems in Spain and Portugal, the final flight cancellation count has just been announced by aviation analysts Cirium.
Passengers travelling to, from and within Spain encountered 413 cancellations, while the score for Portugal is 372. But because many of those are links between the two countries, and are therefore “double counted,” The Independent believes the true total is around 500 – affecting an estimated 80,000 passengers.
The worst affected airport was Lisbon, with 45 per cent of departures grounded. Next was Seville, where one-third of departing flights were cancelled. In absolute terms, though, Madrid and Barcelona were the Spanish cities with the highest number of cancellations – around 50 at each.
'People were going completely crazy'
Tuesday 29 April 2025 13:15
,
Alex Croft
The Independent’s assistant editor Vicki Harper speaks with Lisbon residents following yesterday’s blackouts:
Raquel, 48 said: "People were going completely crazy, but you know when the power came on at 11pm, I didn’t even feel like looking at my phone. I know there would be a flood of messages. I quite liked the relaxing quiet for a change.”
Lara and Miguel also live in downtown Rio de Mouro: “From now on we definitely will be getting together a basic survival kit.”
Recap: What have we learnt on Tuesday?
Tuesday 29 April 2025 13:05
,
Alex Croft
Here’s all we have learnt from Tuesday about yesterday’s blackout, as the resulting chaos continues:
- The cause of the widespread blackout at 12:33pm yesterday is still unclear. But authorities have ruled out the possibility of a cyberattack and of an electricity surge caused by renewable sources.
- The electric grid suffered two ‘disconnection events’, causing instability in the system. The system recovered from the first event, but the second caused a widespread blackout, said the systems chief of Spain’s electricity grid operator REE.
- The Spanish government has vowed to hold private companies to account if they were at fault for the blackouts. Prime minister Pedro Sanchez said such an event “cannot ever happen again”.
- Around 500 planes were cancelled due to the blackout, according to an estimate by The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder based on official figures.
- Oil refineries have began operating again and life is slowly returning to normal after the power cuts, but the chaos is continuing.
In pictures: Travel chaos continues on Tuesday
Tuesday 29 April 2025 12:55
,
Alex Croft
Electric grid suffered two 'disconnection events', cyberattack ruled out
Tuesday 29 April 2025 12:45
,
Alex Croft
More is through from Spanish electricity grid operator REE, which we earlier reported had ruled out the possibility of a cyberattack in its early assessments.
The electricity system was hit by a dramatic power generation loss in southwestern Spain, that caused instability in the system that led to its disconnection from the French grid.
Systems recovered from the first disconnection, but the second one triggered power cuts across Spain and Portugal.
That’s according to the company’s system operations chief Eduardo Prieto, who said quite possible that the affected generation was solar, but it was to early to say for sure.
Mr Prieto said the system was now stable and working normally.
Renewable source energy surge did not cause blackout - Sanchez
Tuesday 29 April 2025 12:30
,
Alex Croft
Pedro Sanchez ruled out the possibility that an excess of electricity generated by renewable sources caused the massive power blackout.
The Spanish prime minister told reporters technicians were still attempting to find the precise cause of the collapse and the results of their enquiries would be used to reinforce the system.
Even though a preliminary assessment from Spanish grid operator REE ruled out a cyberattack, Mr Sanchez said the country's cyber security authorities were conducting a separate investigation on such a possibility.
Sanchez says 'never again' and vows accountability for private companies
Tuesday 29 April 2025 12:15
,
Alex Croft
Pedro Sanchez has said that Spain will not allow a blackout such as Monday’s ton happen “ever again”.
Spain will also demand all relevant accountability from private companies following the blackouts.
"What happened yesterday cannot ever happen again," he added. “This event cannot be repeated ever. We are fully aware that the media has questions, we also have questions ourselves, we will answer all the questions
Mr Sanchez added that his government will “also demand reponsibilities for private operators, and we need to ensure that people are accountable for those responsibilities”.
The results of all inquiries will be used to reinforce the electric system, he said, adding that defence authorities are examining the digital records of Spain’s grid operator.
Electricity demand was normal at time of power cut - Sanchez
Tuesday 29 April 2025 12:10
,
Alex Croft
Pedro Sanchez is now holding a press conference, updating on the response to the blackout in Spain.
He says there is still no confirmation of how the power outage happened but investigations are ongoing.
The electricity demand was relatively normal and the systems were at “good capacity”, he said.
He also condemned those who have shared false news regarding the blackout and its causes.
Parts of Greenland lose access to internet and telephones
Tuesday 29 April 2025 12:09
,
Alex Croft
Remote parts of Greenland have lost access to key satellite services including internet and telephones, the Arctic island's telecoms group said late on Monday.
It will investigate whether this is related to the huge power blackout in Spain and Portugal.
Greenland's Tusass telecoms company said it had lost connection to satellite equipment based in Spain that provides telephone, internet, TV and radio services.
"Right now there is no contact with our equipment in Maspalomas in Spain, which we are deeply dependent on to be able to supply customers in the satellite area," Tusass said in s statement.
It isn’t yet clear how may people have been affected, but the impacted places were largely remote settlements.
In pictures: Life changes for a day in Spain
Tuesday 29 April 2025 11:56
,
Alex Croft
Spain wants more power links with France following blackout
Tuesday 29 April 2025 11:45
,
Alex Croft
Spain’s grid operator wants to bolster power links with France following Tuesday’s blackout, it said on Tuesday.
REE's System Operations chief Eduardo Prieto said more interconnections, including via the Bay of Biscay, will make the electric system more stable and reliable.
Watch: Spectators stuck at Madrid Open start singing amid power outage
Tuesday 29 April 2025 11:38
,
Alex Croft
