Latest news and stories about power grid in Portugal for expats and residents.
The energy infrastructure company E-Redes estimates that restoring the national power grid following the recent passage of storm Kristin will cost approximately 110 million euros. The storm caused extensive damage across all voltage levels, with the central region of Portugal suffering the most significant impact.
A parliamentary working group has recommended that the government mandate a minimum of 72 hours of energy autonomy for critical infrastructure. The proposal, led by PSD deputy Paulo Moniz, aims to improve resilience in hospitals, care homes, and emergency services following last year's major blackout. The group also suggests reviewing fuel storage limits and expanding the definition of critical infrastructure to include pharmacies and food retailers.
The Democratic Alliance (Aliança Democrática, AD) is a center-right coalition primarily composed of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) with 89 seats and the CDS–People's Party (CDS-PP) with 2 seats. Together, they form the current minority government under Prime Minister Luís Montenegro.
The PSD, despite its name, occupies the center-right of Portugal's political spectrum and has been one of Portugal's two dominant parties since 1974, having formed nine governments including four with absolute majorities. The CDS-PP is a smaller Christian democratic party that has historically been the PSD's coalition partner.
The AD coalition governs without a parliamentary majority, requiring case-by-case support from opposition parties to pass legislation. The coalition has imposed a cordon sanitaire against Chega, refusing formal cooperation with the far-right despite its parliamentary strength, which means it must negotiate with the PS or smaller parties to advance its legislative agenda.
Paulo Moniz is a Portuguese politician and member of the Social Democratic Party (Partido Social Democrata or PSD). He currently serves as a member of the Assembly of the Republic, where he has been involved in parliamentary working groups concerning energy infrastructure and security.
The Spanish competition authority, the National Commission on Markets and Competition (Comissão Nacional de Mercados e Concorrência or CNMC), has opened inquiries into the April 2025 blackout that paralyzed the Iberian Peninsula. The investigation targets the national grid operator and major energy companies, including Repsol, Naturgy, Iberdrola, and Endesa. Officials identified evidence of non-compliance that may lead to formal sanctions.
The infrastructure strengthens the regional power grid, improves service quality, and creates response capacity for neighbouring municipalities, while also keeping pace with expected consumption growth.
The phenomenon resulted in a temporary reduction in photovoltaic production.
Wildfires and extreme heat have thrust emergency preparedness into the political spotlight.
Following two additional power outages, concerns are raised about the stability of the energy grid in Portugal.
6,000 km of network affected, 5,300 poles damaged, and 47 substations impacted. Leiria accounts for 45% of the financial impact from the January storm.
Almost six months after the storm that left nearly a million customers without electricity, the company estimates that more than 500 kilometres of grid and thousands of poles still require repair or replacement
Spain has implemented a strategy to prevent future power outages, raising questions about Portugal's preparedness.
The Minister of Energy admits that more interconnections do not prevent blackouts, but they do accelerate recovery. Portugal took between 11 and 12 hours in April 2025.
The Portuguese government plans to conduct a feasibility study regarding a new power grid link with Morocco.
The power grid is being put to the test by extreme temperatures, with experts warning that isolated power outages are to be expected.
The blackouts recorded in France due to the heatwave could be repeated in Portugal. Nuno Amaro, a professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at NOVA FCT, admits that localised failures are possible but rules out the possibility of a widespread blackout. The expert also advocates adopting behaviours that reduce consumption and relieve pressure on the grid.
Southern Portugal had to be temporarily supplied with electricity by Spain following storm Kristin at the end of January, due to damage to energy connections within the national territory, the Minister of Environment revealed today.
It was exactly one year ago that the country went completely dark: a total blackout on the Iberian Peninsula left tens of millions of people without electricity and, for many of them, in a panic.
“The most severe blackout incident in the European energy system in the last 20 years” and an “unprecedented” situation. This is how the panel of experts from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E), who studied the event for almost a year, described the blackout that left Portugal and Spain in the dark.
It was 11:33 AM in mainland Portugal when the Iberian power grid suffered a total collapse, losing synchronisation with the European network. The country was suddenly plunged into darkness in the middle of the day.
Former president of ERSE considers that the blackout did not just reveal a network operation problem.
Experts argue that preventing future power outages requires improved cooperation between Portugal and Spain.
A year ago, in a domino effect, electricity began to fail in Spain, and the blackout crossed borders, spreading from north to south in Portugal within minutes. As not everything went well in how we handled this blackout, the government asked a group of experts for advice on how to prevent it from happening again. Is it possible? The answers from one of these experts, João Peças Lopes, PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, on Expresso da Manhã.
An analysis of the measures taken by Portugal to prevent future power outages.
A look back at the power outage that occurred exactly one year ago, starting just after 11:30 am.
Resilience must be ensured locally, selectively and cost-effectively, and not through oversizing the grid, the report states.
The Spanish competition authority has opened 15 additional inquiries into various companies regarding the electrical blackout of 28 April 2025 on the Iberian Peninsula, bringing the total number of initiated proceedings to 35, which may result in sanctions.
