Spain endured the worst power outage in its history on Monday, with the blackout affecting nearly the entire Iberian Peninsula — sparing only the islands and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. The magnitude of the incident, both in geographic spread and the number of affected citizens, is unprecedented.
Speaking around 11 PM local time, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez confirmed that the government is investigating the sudden and unexplained loss of electrical generation that occurred precisely at 12:33 PM, marking the beginning of the massive disruption. “This has never happened before,” Sánchez emphasized. “All State resources have been mobilized from the first minute.”
Red Eléctrica, the national grid operator, announced that by 2:50 AM, approximately 82.4% of the power supply had been restored. Authorities have urged the public to minimize travel, use mobile phones only for brief calls, avoid overwhelming emergency services, and rely solely on official sources for information.
The government will oversee blackout management in eight autonomous communities, while King Felipe VI will preside over a meeting of the National Security Council on Tuesday to address the situation.
As part of the emergency response:
Schools in Madrid, Aragón, Extremadura, and the city of Valencia will remain open on Tuesday but without regular classes. Galicia, Alicante, and Elche will completely close schools for the day. Andalusia and Catalonia will resume classes as normal.
The scale of the blackout, combined with its sudden onset, raises serious questions about the resilience of Spain’s energy infrastructure, particularly as the country’s energy mix continues its rapid shift toward renewables.