Spain blackout: Half a day after Monday’s catastrophic failure of the Spanish electrical grid – which plunged into darkness the Ierian country, Portugal, and the southern French region of Perpignan and caused four deaths – 50% of the country was still dark. It was not until the morning, almost a day after the incident, that the entirety of Spain, Portugal, and France recovered access to electricity, phone lines, and the internet. More than one day after the incident, there is still no official explanation of the causes of the blackout other than there was a sudden and unexplained loss of 60% of the grid’s power.

Monday exposed the fragility of a modern first-world country like Spain, where the only source of information was a battery-powered radio for most citizens. For instance, some national media outlets described the situation in Madrid as apocalyptic, with trash on the streets (due to a sanitation workers’ strike), thousands of people trapped in pitch-dark metro trains and elevators, and nobody knowing what was happening.

The blackout also showed a critical blunder in the direct-to-phone emergency warning alarms, as they only work if cellular networks have electricity. The Spanish government decided it was too much of a waste of the few electricity available to send the messages. Spanish President Pedro Sánchez added to the uncertainty as he showed up over an hour late to his announced late-night press conference. Moreover, as is typical under his administration (a practice that has sparked an outcry from various journalism associations such as FAPE), he did not allow any questions from the press.

What caused the grid failure? Are the renewables at fault?

The company in charge of the electrical grid, Red Eléctrica, explained in its annual results (released on the 26th of February) that “the closure of conventional generation plants such as coal, combined cycle, and nuclear (due to regulatory requirements) leads to a reduction in firm power and the balancing capabilities of the electrical system, as well as its strength and inertia, the company acknowledged in the report sent to the market.”

The power outage was not due to a lack of electricity, as the Spanish grid was a net exporter at the exact hour when the electricity was lost (12:33 AM), but due to the difficulties of predicting and balancing energy demand at each time, as a lack of energy or an oversupply can cause incidents. The closure of conventional plants “could increase the risk of operational incidents that may affect supply and the company’s reputation. This issue represents a risk, with a short- and medium-term horizon,” Red Eléctrica specified.

However, both Red Eléctrica and President Sánchez have promised in the past that there would not be any blackouts in Spain: Red Eléctrica in a tweet from this month and Sánchez in a 2022 press conference. Moreover, the incident comes as the debate over the closing down of nuclear plants in Spain rages on, with the conservative party in Spain and business associations calling for the plants to stay open.

Societal unpreparedness: emergency kit, a must

Monday’s blackout was a wake-up call for Spain and other advanced nations to strengthen their electrical grid and enhance preparedness. Most people and businesses were not ready for such an unexpected event. Moreover, most businesses didn’t have fuel-powered emergency generators, which led to substantial losses of refrigerated food products; moreover, some could not close as they had electrical roll-up doors, and cash was king again. Most shops closed, and the ones that opened ran out fast of water, bread, and other essentials, including candles.

Furthermore, most people were also unprepared. The EU recently recommended having an emergency kit that allows citizens to be self-sufficient for a minimum of 72 hours. Some countries like France have called for a 72-hour survival kit with water, food, basic medicines, radio flashlights, batteries and power banks, warm clothes, and basic tools. Other things such as spare keys are also recommended, as you do not want to be forced to scream to your neighbours from the street to open the door to your apartment building, for example (a frequent scene in Monday’s Spain).

For the ones that need internet at all costs, people who reported having Starlink systems and solar panels were the only ones who stayed online. In the end, we were all powerless, but some were clearly less powerless than others.