Earth-orbiting satellites captured images of the electricity blackouts across Spain and Portugal on 28-29 April 2025.
The large-scale blackout occurred just after 12:30 CEST and caused an interruption in power supply throughout the Iberian Peninsula.
More Earth from space
Experts say it was the worst blackout in Europe in living memory, with about 55 million people affected by the loss of power, which lasted more than 12 hours in some areas.
While experts are still investigating the cause of the Spain and Portugal blackouts of April 2025, satellite images have been released showing the effect across the two countries.
The images were captured at night by NASA’s Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20 and NOAA-21 satellites.
They show areas across Spain and Portugal that experienced power outages, and restored light emissions at night.
The three satellites orbit our planet from pole to pole, and were able to make six passes over Spain and Portugal throughout the course of the night, according to the European Space Agency.
"By overlaying the six satellite passes and applying NASA’s night-time algorithms, we can identify large green spots suddenly appearing and gradually fading," explains Alejandro Sánchez de Miguel, researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía.
"The green dots indicate the absence of light, while white ones show areas with stable electricity supply.
"This distribution is consistent with electrical company reports and the gradual return to normality."
