Salamanca, Spain - April 28, 2025 On April 28, a video posted by X user Carlos captured a moment of joy in the Salamanca neighborhood as residents celebrated the return of electricity after a widespread power outage. The footage shows lights coming back on and people cheering and shouting from their homes in excitement. Carlos wrote: “Celebrando en el Barrio Salamanca el regreso de la luz.” Spain and Portugal experienced a massive blackout early Monday afternoon, losing most of their electricity. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez confirmed that around 12:30 p.m. local time, Spain lost 15 gigawatts of electricity, accounting for nearly 60% of the country’s power demand. Spain's electric grid operator, Red Electrica de Espana, reported two major “disconnection events” before the outage. While the first was resolved, the second event led to a more severe failure, with interruptions extending to France’s electrical system. The result was what they described as “a massive, temporary disconnection.” According to Eduardo Prieto, the systems operations director, the second event was especially damaging. In the hours leading up to the blackout, power sensors in homes near Madrid detected signs of instability. Bob Marshall, CEO of Maryland-based Whisker Labs, said sensors showed small voltage fluctuations starting around 9:30 a.m. local time. These readings grew worse over the next three hours. Instead of a steady voltage, the data revealed irregular oscillations that increased in strength and frequency. By noon, voltage levels were fluctuating about 15 volts every 1.5 seconds. Marshall commented, “The way I would interpret our data is that the grid is struggling. Something’s wrong. And it’s showing increasing signs of instability.”