On April 28, 2025, a massive power outage plunged almost the entire Iberian Peninsula into darkness when Spain’s national grid operator, Red Eléctrica, experienced a sudden 15-gigawatt drop in generation capacity over five seconds. Nearly 60 million residents across Spain and Portugal were left without electricity, forcing offices, airports, rail and subway services, ATMs and mobile phone networks to shut down. Traffic gridlock ensued, emergency services scrambled to deploy gas-powered generators, and consumers lined up for battery-powered radios. Within hours, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced a special commission to probe potential causes — from grid oscillations and atmospheric anomalies to the possibility of cyber intrusion — while ruling out a shortage of nuclear output. By daybreak, 99% of capacity had been restored, but the economic fallout was severe: commerce halted, supply chains were disrupted, and tourism losses mounted. The unprecedented event exposed vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure, prompting EU officials to call for enhanced cross-border coordination, investment in grid resilience and cybersecurity measures to prevent a recurrence of this landmark disruption.