Core Points - A large-scale power outage occurred in Spain and Portugal on April 28, affecting over 50 million people on the Iberian Peninsula, disrupting critical sectors such as transportation, communication, and healthcare [1][13][19] - The cause of the outage remains unclear, with the Spanish national grid company indicating that full power restoration may take between 6 to 10 hours [5][18] - The outage led to significant disruptions in communication services, with network traffic in Spain dropping by 37% and in Portugal by 30% [14][19] Group 1: Power Outage Details - The power load in Spain dropped from approximately 25 million kilowatts to about 14 million kilowatts around 12:30 PM, further declining to about 10 million kilowatts within an hour [3][5] - The outage was described as unprecedented and extraordinary by the Spanish national grid company [5][19] - Emergency measures were taken, including the use of backup power in hospitals and the evacuation of metro stations in Madrid and Lisbon [13][17] Group 2: Impact on Daily Life - In Barcelona, residents experienced a complete blackout, with traffic lights and public transport systems failing, leading to chaos in the streets [6][10] - Tourists in León faced disrupted travel plans, with hotels reaching full capacity and transportation services halted [11][13] - Communication services were severely impacted, with mobile networks experiencing significant outages, affecting voice call capabilities [14][19] Group 3: Government Response - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the national grid control center, promising to mobilize all resources to resolve the issue [17] - The Portuguese government held an emergency meeting to assess the situation and implement response measures [17] - The European Commission is in contact with Spain, Portugal, and European grid operators to investigate the root cause of the incident [18][19] Group 4: Technical Aspects - The outage may have been triggered by a fault in the Spanish grid, exacerbated by extreme temperature variations leading to abnormal oscillations in high-voltage lines [19][22] - Prior to the incident, Spain had achieved 100% renewable energy supply for the first time, raising concerns about the risks associated with increasing renewable energy capacity [22]