Power outages in Spain and Portugal: what now?
Large-scale power outages plunged more than 60 million people in Spain, Portugal and parts of France into chaos on Monday. The internet and mobile phones went dead, traffic systems came to a halt, and homes and business were left without electricity. Although the power supply has been restored, the cause of the blackout remains unclear, but the grid operator has ruled out a cyberattack. Commentators draw their own conclusions.
Exemplary behaviour in a crisis
All Europe can learn from the emergency strategies employed in Spain, Sydsvenskan stresses:
“Spain's entire power grid collapsed within just five seconds. For millions of people this meant hours of waiting, restrictions and growing anxiety. At the same time, the security situation was extremely tense. ... But the Spanish people remained calm. With the help of backup generators, cooperation and adaptability, hospitals in Málaga, emergency services in Madrid and restaurants in Barcelona were able to keep things up and running. This is the real driving force behind a society's resilience when a crisis strikes and the power is cut.”
Helping instead of tweeting
El País points out a side-effect:
“The blackout encouraged Franco nostalgics on social media. 'This kind of thing didn't happen under Franco', wrote the lawyer of the dictator's heirs. ... And this trite message got over 1,000 likes. ... Meanwhile, the part of the country that was unable to tweet, phone or whatsapp for hours on end highlighted the abysmal distance that separates the real world from the bubble of anger that dominates the social media. People wearing fluorescent vests stopped cars and helped pedestrians cross the road. ... Others lent their radios to strangers. ... The Spain of the workers, which the far right wants to claim as its own, has no time to tweet. ... Freed from their work duties, many dedicated themselves to helping where they could.”
Investments are long overdue
The incident shows how fragile Europe's energy infrastructure is, says Večernji list:
“The abrupt blackout across most of the Iberian Peninsula is a reminder of a problem that many on the Old Continent have forgotten: the fragility of Europe's energy infrastructure. It's not enough to plug the holes now that Russian oil and gas are no longer flowing. There remains the problem of the electricity supply, which is based on a complex system that - as we saw this week - has gaps that pose a risk. ... As early as 2022, a scientific model test showed that without major technological investment the stability of the Spanish grid can be jeopardised by surges in the consumption of wind and solar energy.”
Yet another crisis in these uncertain times
El País is alarmed by the experience of vulnerability:
“From one minute to the next, operating theatres had their electricity cut off; thousands of people were trapped in lifts, underground tunnels and trains in the middle of nowhere. ... Scenes that would be unthinkable in a developed European country. ... There hasn't been such confusion and turmoil since the early days of the pandemic. The electricity crisis is the latest in a series of acute crises in this century. This time, much of the country's population went to bed with a sense of extreme vulnerability. ... This electricity crisis adds another dose of unease to the radical uncertainty of recent times.”
Normality finally makes the headlines
Eldiario.es author Irene Lozano made the most of the power outage:
“I spent a fabulous afternoon that harked back to another era, listening to the radio and reading in my armchair. I had time to think and take notes. I started writing this article and it came together without any interruptions or distractions. In the evening, I went for a walk with my dog. ... She ran around the park, ate dinner, went to sleep. For her it was just a day like any other, except that she had to walk up five flights of stairs. ... But just at that moment, the lights went on everywhere. The journalists passed on the kind of news they never do otherwise: everything is working. And that was the extraordinary aspect: the most ordinary, everyday occurrence finally made the headlines.”
Get serious about safety
Unnecessary bureaucratisation of the state apparatus has delayed the authorities' response to this crisis, notes Diário de Notícias:
“A communication plan for crisis situations for which the SSI security service is responsible has been in planning for more than ten years, but no one knows anything about it. In this country, institutions and organisations are proliferating, responsibilities are being duplicated but no one feels responsible. ... We have been lucky to have been spared major natural disasters or terrorist attacks. ... If we start to get more serious about people's safety, we can prevent even greater tragedies.”
Power grids are an Achilles heel
Eesti Päevaleht draws several conclusions from the blackout:
“Firstly, cyber attacks are a real threat. If it turns out that 50 million people can be plunged into chaos by a single computer, this is a major security risk from which all other countries should learn. Secondly, the power grids need updating. Admittedly, this is enormously expensive. But while Spain, for example, is being accused at NATO level of putting the breaks on European defence spending, we can see here how important it is that other vital services continue to function. And thirdly, it is still very much a matter of integration. For the sake of stability, we must build more external links with our neighbours.”
That's what you get with climate goals
If Britain wants to avoid a similar fate, the Labour government must relinquish its goal of eliminating fossil fuels by 2030, The Daily Telegraph urges:
“Has the impact on the grid of a move mostly to renewables been properly considered? The closure over the next three years of ageing nuclear power stations, delays in building new ones and rising demands for electricity will leave the UK facing a crunch point in about 2028. The chances that wind, solar and other renewables will fill the gap are fanciful. People rely on their governments to keep the lights on, but as we saw in Spain and Portugal the impact goes far beyond that. The backlash against politicians who let it happen will be immense.”
Outage of transparent communication
El Periódico de Catalunya bemoans the lack of facts and explanations:
“We should avoid the temptation to question the transition to clean energy. We don't have the relevant data yet so we should not let our prejudices or ideological biases get the upper hand. Just as the prime minister warned yesterday, this applies to the spread of fake news and to unverifiable information in general. But the truth is that the risks of disinformation could have been avoided with faster and more transparent communication. The fact that after several hours the official statement was only that nothing could be ruled out is only fueling speculation about the cause and why it has yet to be publicly identified. And if no one actually knows, it is no less worrying.”