Power failure in southern Europe: Millions in the dark - causes revealed!

Power failure in southern Europe: Millions in the dark - causes revealed!

On April 28, 2025, Portugal and parts of southern France occurred in a far -reaching power failure that affected millions of people. The cause was the sudden loss of 2.2 gigawatts in the south of Spain. According to the information from [VOL.AT] (https://www.vol.at/neue-analysis- show-ursache-fuer-Strom loss-mit-million-mit-million-affected/9402326), the event began at 12:32 pm when the network frequency on critical 48.0 Hz sank within seconds. An approach to contain the disorder led to the automatic separation of the Iberian power grid from the European network network. The total collapse of the system occurred at 12:33:24 p.m., which led to an economic damage of an estimated 400 million euros for Spain.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez reported that about 15 gigawatts fell out of the power grid within just five seconds, which corresponded to 60 percent of nationwide consumption. These drastic changes in energy supply meant that over 40 million people were temporarily without electricity. The Spanish government is currently examining the data of the power generators and the network operator Red Eléctrica to further analyze the exact causes.

technical and structural weaknesses

The power failure was caused by technical and structural weaknesses in the European power grid, according to the [photovoltaik-angetsvergleich.de] (https://www.photovoltaik-iebtsvergleich.de/photovoltaik-blog/articles/blackout-in-in-----uropa- undalzen-der-Detzinstabitl). The Iberian power grids are dependent on a stable frequency of 50 Hertz, and even low fluctuations can lead to automatic shutdowns. In this case, renewable energies, which cover around 80 percent of Spain and Portugal's electricity requirements, only offered a little system inertia, which reinforced the effects of the incident.

Problems with high -voltage lines between France and Spain could also have played a role. A suspected fire in the south of France could have contributed to an interruption of the connection, but the French network operator RTE rejected a direct causality. During and after the incident, the operators started restarting power plants, especially gas and hydropower plants. Electricity was also imported from France and Morocco to stabilize the network again.

consequences and reactions

The incident has re -laid out the discussion about the resilience of modern power grids. An unknown hacker group was attributed to responsibility for the incident, but there is no evidence of a cyber attack. Atmospheric influences, such as sudden changes in air pressure or solar storms, were also excluded. Alexander Schilling from Transnet BW pointed out that political decisions were often delayed, which has led to an unequal development of production and network expansion.

experts are calling for better European coordination in electricity trade as well as increased investments in technologies such as battery storage and flexibility solutions to ensure the stability of energy supply. The Tagesschau report emphasizes that a stable power grid requires a balance between power generation and consumption and that the expansion of the infrastructure is decisive. In order to avoid remarkable incidents such as these in the future, solar systems must be better controlled, and the efficiency of the protective mechanisms should be checked.