Extreme Events and Power Grid Resilience: Lessons from Iberian Blackouts

Dear Colleagues,

The ‌2025 Iberian Blackout‌—a sudden, large-scale power outage affecting Spain, Portugal, and parts of southern France—has raised urgent concerns about the resilience of Europe’s interconnected energy infrastructure. Occurring on ‌April 28, 2025‌, the blackout lasted nearly ‌10 hours‌, disrupting transportation, communications, healthcare, and daily life for millions.

 This event marks one of Europe’s most severe power failures in recent years, exposing vulnerabilities in ‌grid stability, renewable energy integration, emergency response protocols, and cross-border coordination‌. As Europe accelerates its energy transition, the Iberian blackout serves as a critical case study for policymakers, engineers, and energy experts to reassess ‌infrastructure reliability, cybersecurity, and crisis management strategies‌.

Aim and Scope

The primary aim of this Special Issue is to provide a comprehensive platform for researchers, policymakers, and industry experts to share insights, analyses, and innovative solutions related to the recent power outages in Spain and Portugal. The scope of the Special Issue will encompass a wide range of topics, including, but not limited to, the following:

• Root Causes Analysis: Investigating the underlying causes of the outages, including technical failures, extreme weather conditions, and human errors.
• Impact Assessment: Evaluating the economic, social, and environmental impacts of the outages on communities, businesses, and the environment.
• Renewable Energy Integration: Discussing the challenges, opportunities, and limits associated with integrating renewable energy sources into the grid, particularly in the context of high penetration levels and intermittent generation.
• Grid Infrastructure and Resilience: Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of current grid infrastructure and exploring strategies to enhance resilience and reliability.
• Policy and Regulation: Examining the regulatory framework and policies that govern the energy sector and their implications in outage prevention and response.
• Innovative Solutions and Technologies: Presenting cutting-edge technologies and innovative solutions to mitigate the risk of future outages and improve grid performance.

Key Focus Areas

To enable comprehensive and focused coverage of this topic, this Special Issue will particularly explore the following key focus areas:

1. Technical Analysis of Outages: Detailed technical reports on the specific outages, including fault location, cause determination, and system restoration processes.
2. Grid Modernization Strategies: Discussions on the latest advancements in grid modernization, including smart grid technologies, energy storage systems, and demand-side management.
3. Interconnected Grids and Cross-Border Cooperation: Exploring the implications of interconnected grids and the potential for cross-border cooperation in outage prevention and response.
4. Stakeholder Perspectives: Collecting diverse perspectives from stakeholders, including utilities, regulators, consumers, and renewable energy developers, on the outages and their mitigation strategies.
5. Future-Proofing the Grid: Developing long-term strategies for ensuring the resilience and sustainability of the electrical grid in the face of evolving challenges.

This Special Issue will contribute to ongoing discussions and research on power outages and will foster collaboration among experts in this field, ultimately leading to more resilient and reliable energy systems in Spain, Portugal, and beyond.

Dr. José Matas
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• Iberian Blackout 2025
• Spain-Portugal power outage
• European energy crisis
• large-scale blackout
• critical infrastructure failure
• power grid resilience
• grid stability
• renewable energy integration
• intermittent generation challenges
• fault location analysis
• system restoration
• smart grid technologies
• energy storage systems