Iberian Blackout: Why France Says It’s Better Prepared for a Large-Scale Power Outage

While Spain and Portugal were plunged into darkness on Monday, April 28, due to a major power outage, France is seeking to reassure the public. Although the exact cause of the failure remains unknown, French authorities maintain that such a scenario is “highly unlikely” on their soil, thanks to a robust system of protections.

A “rare” incident, still unexplained

On Monday morning, the Iberian Peninsula suddenly disconnected from the European electricity grid. The consequences were immediate: metro stations shut down, traffic lights went dark, and businesses were forced to close. Millions of users across Spain and Portugal were affected. By Tuesday morning, over 99% of power had been restored, but the cause of the outage remains a mystery. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stated that “no hypothesis is being ruled out,” although the European Union has dismissed the likelihood of a cyberattack.

To investigate the blackout, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) has launched a cross-border inquiry involving Spain, Portugal, France, and other countries. The goal: to analyze the data and pinpoint the root causes of this unprecedented disruption.

France confident in its electricity defense system

In France, officials are confident that their network is far less vulnerable. “An incident of this nature is highly improbable here,” said Industry and Energy Minister Marc Ferracci on RTL radio. He recalled the 2006 blackout triggered by a German grid failure, which affected 15 million people in France—an incident that led to significant upgrades in the national power infrastructure.

Jean-Paul Roubin, Director of Customers and Operations at RTE (France’s electricity transmission operator), explained the country’s layered security system: “We have multiple automatic defense mechanisms. If a zone on the grid becomes unstable, it is immediately isolated to prevent the issue from spreading.” In the event of a full blackout, detailed recovery plans are in place and tested regularly by dedicated teams.

France also has a Rapid Electricity Response Force, known as FIRE, comprising 2,500 technicians ready to intervene within minutes to restore power in critical areas.

Interconnection: a strength, but also a vulnerability

The interconnected European power grid played a vital role in containing Monday’s crisis. France stepped in to support Spain by supplying up to 1,500 megawatts—almost two-thirds of Spain’s consumption. “We began restoring parts of Spain’s supply within an hour of the incident and continued throughout the night. We’ll keep doing so as long as necessary,” said Roubin.

However, such interconnection is a double-edged sword: it allows power to be shared, but also lets failures cascade from one country to another. That’s why automatic safety systems exist to temporarily disconnect cross-border links—just as France did with Spain for an hour on Monday to shield its own southwestern regions from the outage.

Vulnerable zones within France

Some parts of France, like Brittany or Corsica, are considered “energy peninsulas” because they are poorly connected to the national grid. For these at-risk areas, RTE has put in place specific contingency plans to better anticipate and mitigate any potential large-scale failure.