One year ago, Spain and Portugal faced a historic power outage, leaving both countries in darkness for an entire day. Since then, multiple investigations have been conducted, yet no individuals or organizations have been held accountable for the incident.
The blackout took place on April 29, 2025, affecting over 50 million people across the Iberian Peninsula. Spain’s national grid operator, Red Electrica (RE), initially pointed to issues within the country’s solar energy infrastructure, which was providing around 70 percent of the national energy demand at the time, as part of the government’s green energy initiatives.
At least five individuals reportedly lost their lives during the initial hours of the outage. In the aftermath, Spain shifted to increasing its reliance on nuclear energy and natural gas to enhance the robustness of its power grid, which seemed at odds with earlier ambitions to reduce carbon emissions and move away from nuclear power.
Spanish publication El Mundo reported that last year, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pledged to investigate the blackout and hold those responsible accountable. However, a year later, El Mundo highlighted the unfulfilled promise, noting that neither politicians nor business leaders involved have taken responsibility or resigned.
Reports from the European Network of Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E), Spain’s Analytical Commission, and the National Market and Competition Commission (CNMC) attributed the outage to “rapid voltage increases throughout the electricity system.” Notably, none of the reports named a specific party to blame, leading to various interpretations of the events.
The investigations claimed that while Spain’s power grid had the necessary safeguards against outages, measures put in place by RE to address frequency issues may have inadvertently led to overvoltage, ultimately causing the failure of the system.
According to the outlet European Press, {link} its final report indicated that the event was “unprecedented” and the largest blackout in Europe in decades, attributing it not to a single cause but rather to multiple contributing factors.
Both El Mundo and European Press pointed out that the CNMC has initiated around 55 disciplinary actions against private energy companies for various violations, yet these actions have not clarified the cause of the outage. It may take up to another year to decide on possible fines.
In the wake of the blackout, Portuguese authorities formed a working group dedicated to evaluating the state of their power grid. A report by Portuguese public broadcaster RTP mentioned that the group outlined recommendations to reinforce the grid’s resilience and ensure quicker responses to disruptions.
A key recommendation suggested removing formal involvement of the Portuguese parliament in the grid planning process, as MPs often delay approvals, rendering plans outdated by the time they move forward.
Another RTP report noted that since January, four additional power plants in Portugal have been fitted with autonomous “black start” capabilities, enabling them to resume operations within three minutes after a total outage. Before the 2025 blackouts, only two plants had demonstrated this capacity.
The anniversary of the blackout happens during a challenging period for energy generation and grid security across Europe. In Germany, the decision to phase out nuclear power has been met with criticism, as many believe it was a “mistake”, a view shared by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who described the move away from nuclear energy as a “strategic error”.
Furthermore, Germany’s reduced power generation capabilities, caused by the nuclear phase-out, have made its power infrastructure susceptible to left-wing terrorism. Notably, the German power grid faced two severe attacks in January and September 2025, with the January incident marking the longest power outage since World War II. In response, lawmakers have vowed to strengthen security for essential services, including hospitals and communications.
In the UK, escalating energy expenses and a lack of government intervention have placed significant strain on telecommunications services, with providers possibly implementing measures such as throttling data speeds and introducing added costs during peak usage times to mitigate high electricity costs.
