blackout

Europe detected the oscillations of the blackout in Spain but did not know how to anticipate collapse

by

While It is still done Analysis Committee meetings to find out what happened in the blackout of April 28. A new preliminary report of the European Network of Electricity Transportation Networks (ENTSO-E) has thrown An important focus on something that Europe could not see. Short. So far, what was known were the data of the “Black box”where second to second it has been investigated that it began to fail. But a new preliminary report of the Entso-E has confirmed That it is not only about the oscillations that were recorded in Spain: collapse was a “complex sequence of events.” In depth. The point is that the report explained that during the half an hour before the incident, two power and frequency oscillations were observed in the European electricity grid, between 12:03 and 12:07 and between 12:19 and 12:21. And of course, both Red Eléctrica in Spain and RTE in France took measures to mitigate these oscillations. However, at 12:33, the electrical system of the Iberian Peninsula He collapsed completely. The matter has more crumb. At that time, no oscillations and system variables were detected within the normal range of operation. But that did not mean that everything was under control. Europe had detected those oscillations, but when Spain and France intervened, they did not interpret it as a critical risk. This was how in southern Spain, a series of failures in electricity generation caused a loss of 2200 MW. This loss was sufficient to trigger a drop in the frequency of the system, which fell to 48 Hz. In other words, the electrical frequency must be maintained around 50 Hz. If it drops from 48 Hz, the system can enter a critical state. And that was exactly what happened. From that moment on … The blackout was inevitable. The electricity exchanges between Spain and its neighboring countries were at high levels: 1000 MW towards France, 2000mw to Portugal and 800MW to Morocco. But when the system collapsed, these connections were also lost. The transmission lines between France and Spain stopped working at 12:33:21 and automatic protection systems disconnected the entire Iberian network three seconds later. There was a figure that circulates in networks. The president of the Government in his appearance before the media said: “15GW disappeared in 5 seconds”I immediately ran this statement in the networks, but the Entso-E has specified that the loss was 2.2GW. So where did that figure come from? The 15 GW that circulated after the blackout comes from an initial REE estimate based on automatic defense systems. According to the Secretary of Energy of MitecoJoan Groizard, 10 GW were counted in automatic cuts (demand breakdown) and 5 GW in contribution of interconnections that stopped supplying energy. However, the report of the ETSO-E specifies that the loss recorded in southern Spain was 2200 MW (2.2 GW), a significantly lower figure, evidencing that the initial calculation did not reflect the loss of generation itself, but the global impact of the event on the electrical system. And now what? Entso-e has created A panel of experts to continue investigating what happened. These experts, from countries not affected by the blackout, will collect all the available data to rebuild minute by minute what happened on April 28 to prepare a technical report that will be presented to the European Commission throughout the second half of the year. In turn, the Spanish committee will continue working in parallel, analyzing not only technical failures, but also possible cyber attacks or errors in digital systems, according to has detailed The vice president, Sara Aagesen, in an interview for eldiario.es. Forecasts In the same interview, Sara Aagesen He has insisted in that the causes of the blackout are “enormously complex” and that no hypothesis is ruled out. But many unknowns are left: what centrals were disconnected exactly? What triggered the drop of 2200 MW? And why not the alert signals were detected in time? The first “green” blackout He has put Testing the Iberian Electricity and has evidenced the vulnerabilities of a system in full transition to renewables. While the full analysis of the blackout could take months, both system operators and governments They move in a field full of uncertainty. The key now is to rethink the Microredes, Energy storage and Gridorming technologies capable of stabilizing an increasingly volatile network. The road is being configured now and is in the present where you have to continue working. Image | Unspash and Eric Fischer Xataka | The other uncomfortable truth of the blackout: Spain does not yet have enough batteries for its renewable boom

After the blackout, the government defended the nuclear closure because “in Spain there is no uranium.” Reality is more complicated

by

The question of uranium has returned to the forefront after the president of the Government affirm that “in Spain there is no uranium and therefore we will have to import it.” Although Spain has large uranium deposits, reality is always more complicated than the usual black or white policy. The second European country with more uranium. Spain has between 25,000 and 30,000 tons of uranium, “the second most important reserves of the European Union,” According to the geologist Jesús Martínez Frías. Both the ‘Red Book’ of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) as the National Geographic Institute (IGN) indicate the existence of resources with the possibility of exploitation in Spanish territory, mainly in the province of Salamanca. Why they stopped exploding. Spain had uranium mining, but The last mine closed in 2000 for the “exhaustion of economically exploitable mining resources”, according to the Ministry for Ecological Transition. The Spanish Nuclear Society (SNE) said that production costs had exceeded 30% market prices, which made its continuity unfeasible. Two decades later, the Law 7/2021 of climate change and energy transition Truncó any new attempt To exploit the deposits: “Due to their prejudices, their cost will not be granted new exploration, research or concessions of exploitation of radioactive minerals, nor will new authorization requests be admitted.” Environmental problems. The risk of radioactive water contamination is another elephant in the room. A study Posted by Environmental Pollution In 2018 he documented “much higher” uranium concentrations than background geochemical levels near old mines abandoned in Salamanca. The levels in the soil ranged between 207.2 and 542.4 mg kg⁻¹, when the natural background levels are 29.8 mg kg⁻¹ for granite and 71.2 mg kg⁻¹ for slate. The study proposed environmental restoration measures, such as reforestation, in areas close to old farms. They are not entirely unfeasible. The political landscape has changed with the European Union in search of energy sovereignty and resources. The economic landscape too. With The price of upward uraniumthe Berkeley Minera company has a revived interest in its Retortillo project. The request for exploitation of this deposit was delivered before Law 7/2021 applied, but the Nuclear Safety Council also issued An unfavorable environmental report for “the low reliability and the high uncertainties of security analysis in geotechnical and hydrogeological aspects.” Uranium you have to enrich it. Although there was a political change that leads to the reactivation of Retry, the uranium that is extracted from the earth (natural uranium) barely contains 0.7% of Uranium-235, the necessary physiognable isotope for most nuclear reactors. It would be necessary to enrich uranium, a process that consists in increasing the concentration of uranium-235 to 3-5% levels for light water reactors, which are the most common. Spain does not have its own high -scale enriched uranium, or facilities in which to enrich uranium at the industrial level for use as fuel in nuclear centrals. Can Spain enrich uranium? Spain had the capacity to produce uranium concentrates (in the form of yellow cakes or Yellowcakes), But obtaining enriched uranium is a subsequent, technologically more complex and expensive process, dominated by a few countries. Today, 60% He leaves Russia and China. ENUSA (the national uranium company) already had difficulty replacing Russian enriched uranium after Commercial vetoes for the Ukraine War. Enriching it would be a major challenge. A change of direction. In the new geopolitical context, the European Union is promoting the reactivation of mining to ensure a sovereign supply of key materials for energy transition and defense. Spain is rich in Uranium, but also in resources such as copper, which is the second EU producer. Besides, It has lithiumcobalt, Coltán and possible lower land deposits. Seven of the 47 new Strategic Mining Projects promoted by the EU They will be developed in Spainalthough most face the rejection of environmental organizations for its environmental impact, such as the lithium mine in Cáceres. The epicenter of the debate. Discussions on Spanish uranium are a broader reflex of tensions: the strategic autonomy of resources, the imperatives of the energy transition, environmental protection and social acceptance of mining activity. In the end, the epicenter of the debate is the high cost of building and maintaining traditional nuclear plants in the face of renewable energy sources, of which Spain is world power. Only last year, Spain produced 148,999 GWh of renewable energy, 56.8% of Mix. If the blackout was A notice that the electricity is not prepared To stabilize large renewable energy fluctuations, what touches is wondering what are the investments in storage, investors, interconnections and energy sources alternative to pollutants combined cycles of gas to avoid another blackout. Everything is said regarding the closure of nuclear plants or the extraction of uranium in Spain, but the solar industry will not go anywhere. Image | Tecnatom In Xataka | In Salamanca there is a high -tech nuclear fuel bars factory that exports to all of Europe: we have visited it

Spanish nuclear have been criticized for their role in the blackout. This was what they did before, during and after collapse

by

On April 29, just a few hours after Total collapse of the electricity grid Spanish, Pedro Sánchez, the president of the Government of Spain, He made these statements: “Citizens should know that during this crisis nuclear power plants, far from being a solution, have been a problem Because they were turned off. And it has been necessary to divert large amounts of energy to maintain their stable nuclei. At this time there are two nuclear centrals activated, and they are not because they are needed, but because their activation was already planned. “ His words require several nuances if we want to know in some detail what was the role of Spanish nuclear facilities in this incident and what they did before, during and after the total blackout. The first thing is worth repairing is that only three of the seven nuclear reactors of the Spanish park were turned off: the Trillo because the technicians were recharging fuel barsand those of Almaraz I and chests due to the needs that the electric market had at that time. The other four nuclear reactors, those of Almaraz II, Ascó I and II and Vandellós II, were operating normally before the blackout occurred. If we have this present the statement of Pedro Sánchez in which he argues that “(…) nuclear power plants, far from being a solution, have been a problem because they were turned off (…)” is not right. As we have just seen, Four reactors were delivering electricity to the network with total normality. In any case, the most interesting is what happened just when the collapse occurred. Security systems went into action to guarantee a safe stop Nuclear reactors are prepared to stop fission reactions whenever. The procedure that is used, very broadly, consists of introducing the control bars in the active section of the vessel, which are made of metal alloys of boron, cadmium or hafnio because these chemical elements have the ability to absorb a large number of neutrons. Fission reactions stop very quickly thanks to the effect of control bars, but, and this is very important, nuclear reactors have a great thermal inertia. This simply means that once the flow of neutron has stopped completely the reactor continues to generate residual heat due to the disintegration of products derived from nuclear fission. The main consequence of this behavior is evident: It is essential to sustain core cooling of the reactor even although this machine has stopped by introducing the control bars and modifying the composition of the refrigerant By adding boric acid to the primary circuitwhich also has a very high index of neutron absorption. Active and liabilities refrigeration systems must ensure that residual heat does not compromise the integrity of the reactor Active and passive cooling systems have to ensure that residual heat does not compromise the integrity of the reactor, and, curiously, thermal inertia can last even for several days. When on April 28 there was the collapse of the Electric Red the four reactors that were in operation were automatically stopped and the security systems that have been designed to hold a safe stop were activated. The first thing that happened was that autonomous diesel generators started automatically and generated the electricity that was necessary at that time to keep the entire installation on a safe stop. Everything was executed as planned according to the Nuclear Safety Council. A few hours later, when the supply of electricity from abroad resumed, the autonomous diesel groups were disconnected and the emergency plan was deactivated. From that moment on, nuclear centrals have been resuming the production of electricity, although before doing so the technicians have carried out the security checks that are necessary. An important note once we have reached this point: the recovery of the activity of nuclear power plants and their synchronization with the electricity grid are carried out as the system operator, which is Red Eléctrica de España, and the electricity market requires it. A week after the total blackout we have no solid reason to conclude that Spanish nuclear power plants have put us in danger. Image | Nuclear forum More information | Nuclear forum In Xataka | China and Russia have an extremely ambitious plan: in 2028 they will build a nuclear power plant on the moon

We have second to second the data on the great blackout in Spain. They complicate everything even more

by

The great blackout of April 28 left us all with more questions than answers. Now, with the “black box” of the electrical system in the hands of the researchers, the preliminary data, far from offering a simple explanation, have added a level of complexity to an unprecedented energy crisis. To begin with, what seemed like an abrupt power fall was rather a sequence of three impacts. We knew of two disconnectionsbut as confirmed by Vice President Third Sara Aagesen, there was a third incident exactly 19 seconds Before the blackout, at 12:33. This first shake, located south of the Peninsula, adds to the two already known in the southwest, which triggered the cascade of the network. Although the system was able to absorb this first alteration, its existence adds a new layer of intrigues to an intricate technical autopsy. Researchers face the forensic analysis of about 70,000 critical points that show data every 20 milliseconds. Unraveling the exact sequence in those five fateful seconds between 12:33:16 and 12:33:21, and now also in the previous 19 seconds, is what light will shed on the questions that Red Electrica still does not answer. What was the first domino card to fall? How did the rest of the system react? Were the backs failed? The volume and granularity of information They predict months of workas happened after the Texas blackout in 2021 or that of Italy in 2003, where the final responses took months to arrive. Fortunately, there is a deadline, imposed by the European Commission: Spain has three months to deliver its conclusions about the blackout and A resilience plan that, predictably, will have implications at the paneuropeo level. Collapse anatomy 12:32:57 on Monday, April 28. First blow. The frequency of the peninsular network experienced a slight fall, a few hundredths below 50 Hz. The system absorbed the oscillation in milliseconds, as in normal circumstances. But it was a first warning: a first loss of generation in the south of the registered peninsula 19 seconds before energy zero. The Investigation Committee has already baptized it as the “third event”, although chronologically it was the first. Has been discovered after scrutinizing in detail the log of Eléctrica Red, which monitors those 70,000 critical points by turning data every 20 milliseconds. 12:33:16. Second blow. A new and powerful oscillation in the southwest dynamite the available operational reserve. The frequency sinks this time below critics 49.85 Hz. Given this fall, converters of an important part of the photovoltaic generation begin to disconnect automatically to protect the equipment. 12: 33: 17-12: 33: 21. KO Technical. In just four seconds, the frequency fall is accelerated unrecoverable. The interconnection with France jumps, and then that of Morocco. The network loses 15 GW of power, the equivalent of 60% of the peninsular generation at that time. Then go black. Spain and Portugal sign their first energy zero. 03:30 on Tuesday, April 29. To restore service from black, network operators carry out a Black-Start unprecedented, first starting the pumping hydraulics, followed by combined gas cycles. Red Eléctrica announced that 99.95% of the supply It had been restored 15 hours after the blackout. No one in Europe had risen from scratch a network of this size with such a high proportion of renewable energy. Renewables in the epicenter of debate While technical research progresses with stealth, the public debate is a Theories Polvorín Waiting for answers. The hypothesis of a cyber attack He has flown the crisis from the first moment, despite the fact that Eduardo Prieto, director of Operations of Electric, will discard it sharply. Beyond that, the growing weight of renewables in the energy mix (More than 50% of production in 2024) has placed solar and wind energies in the eye of the hurricane. Its intermittent nature and its lack of synchronous inertia (the ability of conventional plants to stabilize the network thanks to its great rotating masses) They make the most vulnerable system to frequency imbalances. The electricity grid must maintain a constant balance between generation and consumption, operating at a frequency of 50 Hz. An important mismatch can compromise the entire infrastructure. Renewable sources, depending on the sun or wind, and connecting through power electronics (famous investors), do not have that mechanical inertia. Since there are solutions such as energy storage (batteries or pumping centrals) and “Grid Formers” (investors designed to stabilize the network), the question is whether the system is sufficiently adapted to renewables. A May 2024 Report Published by the Electric Red itself, not suspect. Entitled ‘General Criteria for the Protection of the Spanish Electrical System’, warned of the need for Adapt protection criteria before “the change in the generation mix of the current electrical system due to the massive entry of renewable energy sources.” The text recognized that, in areas with high generation penetration based on power electronics, “situations could occur in which the behavior of some of the current protection functions was not expected”, being able to lead to the “disconnection of large amounts of renewable generation”, causing possible serious imbalances. American analyst Russ Schussler It has been warning for years that replacing synchronous generators with investor -based resources (wind, solar) increases the risk of blackouts, and that the lack of inertia is a key factor. Jordi Sevillaformer president of Electrica, believes that the National Integrated Plan for Energy and Climate Peque of “Too Renewable Messianism” without sufficiently attending to these technical problems and the lack of investment. Images | Endesa, Fernando Rodríguez (RTE data) In Xataka | The total blackout of Spain has a suspicious number 1: a stabilization of the poor electricity grid

If the question is when the next blackout will occur, the answer is simple: it is impossible to know

by

He Bru what last April 28 It has generated many questions, and among them a couple stand out that seem inevitable: the first, if there are possibilities that it will produce again Another massive blackout. The second, if any, when will it happen? It is impossible to answer these questions with total certainty, although there are ways to reduce those possibilities to the minimum possible. Impossible to respond to that. To Niehls Bohr, the father of quantum physics, the phrase “making predictions is very difficult, especially when it comes to the future” is attributed. That also happens when trying to predict A nearby potentialsomething practically impossible and what also contribute several arguments. We still do not know the origin of the blackout. One of the problems of trying to answer that question is that we have no definitive or officers about what caused the blackout. From the Spanish Electric Electricity (REE) it was stated that the blackout It was due to a generation disconnectionbut they still do not give details about the specific causes that caused such disconnection. The experts They point to renewables As a possible cause, but at the moment nothing is confirmed. And without knowing the origin of the problem, we cannot know how to avoid it in the future. An unfortunate prediction. Pedro Sánchez, a jacket but without a tie, appears at a press conference. At a given time he says that “there will be no electricity blackouts.” The videowhich has now gone viral, it is not these days, but of September 6, 2022. At that time those words were pronounced in the context of a possible Russian gas cut throughout Europe. But there has been, and the question is whether there will be. The president of the Government was wrong in his prediction. Two and a half years later Spain has suffered The biggest blackout in its historyand one of the great questions that citizens have been asked is when the next blackout will occur, If it occurs. Never say ever. The research of the causes will lead to means for something like that not to happen again. The President of the Government spoke In your appearance of April 29 that there would be reforms so that “never” a generalized electric blackout is repeated like that of April 28, but even with all these reforms and measures zero probability does not exist. There are impodeables. Even in the case of detecting and correcting the problem caused by the blackout, it is still impossible to ensure that another will occur in the future. There are of course possibilities that a technical, human error or a natural catastrophe poses blackouts at some point. Spain has improvement margin. As we have commented In Xatakathe Spanish energy mix needs a stabilization system of the robust network, but also the Iberian Peninsula is an “Energy Island With very little international connection. Thus, we need an integration stronger With the rest of Europe to balance demand, strengthen system safety and share surpluses. There are other possible measures that can be taken, and as explained by the analyst Javier Blas In Bloomberg“The design of the network, policies and risk analysis are not yet up to the management of excess renewables.” All this is important when minimizing the risks of another future blackout. Image | Gabriel Castles In Xataka | The blackout left all Spain without capacity to communicate. The problem is that it also isolated the government

Let us run out of mobile during the blackout was terrible. That will happen to the government is much more worrying

by

The mass blackout suffered by Spain and Portugal on April 28 left us without light, but also without being able to communicate with our mobile phones. One would think that government members would have some type of auxiliary system, but the truth is that there seems to be no for these types of situations. “Blind”. Government sources pointed out In the world that during The blackout of April 28 They were “blind” and that “mobile phones did not work, we could not communicate (…) not even among us in the complex and in the ministries.” Not only citizens. During those hours millions of citizens suffered A very irregular service in their mobile communications, and except for some exceptionsthe operators had huge problems to continue serving. That is already worrying, but even more than our rulers suffered those same problems and there is no emergency plan for this type of event. It didn’t work either The alert system, Es-Alert. Mesh b. The Government does not have an auxiliary communications system, and for years the effort was in another direction: to protect the communications of government members in the face of possible spying acts. To do this exists The call Mesh bthe Safe Strategic Communications Support System of the National Crisis Management System and the Government Presidency. The system is used not only in government fields, but also in high state institutions. The government protects from espionage. As they point out In the countrythe government decided in early 2025 to renew its encryption systems to shield communications after espionage scandal made with pegasus. The first phase will be a modernization of technical infrastructure, of which will order The Spanish company Epicom. Together with this renewal, an update of the communications encryption system will also be updated, which until now was carried out with Comsec (Indra) but that will now compete with Secret T (Telefónica). Both are National Development Technologies, a primary condition for these services. Sirdee is not (for the moment) for that. Spain has The Sirdee program (Integral System of Digital Emergency Radiocommunications of the State), which was launched in 2000 and that served more than 150,000 users in Spain. Among them are the National Police, the Civil Guard and even the presidency of the Government. There are specific contingency plans and operational continuity in ministries and strategic bodies, but government members suffered the same problems as citizens. As they point out In networks & Telecomthe Sirdee system, which was based on tetra technology of UHF radio, It is now complementing With broadband systems through EMBM technology, based on LTE/5G connectivity. Sirdee base nodes are usually equipped with backup batteries and diesel generators that allow these equipment and communications to be kept while these active auxiliary solutions can be maintained. High frequency networks. In 1988 the United States created its high frequency communications Shares program (HF, 3 to 30 MHz) with the aim of having a support for the first fixed lines, and later for mobile lines. This system, now under the Department of National Security (DHS), is composed of thousands of HF stations distributed throughout the country and belonging to different federal and state agencies. The system It was used during the 11-S attacks, but also during natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico in 2005. Satellite communication is another option. During the blackout Starlink turned out to be an exceptional alternative During the blackout, and that shows that satellite communications systems can be very useful in this type of events. Europe has been trying to launch its satellite Internet system Through the Iris2 systemwhich is expected to begin to be operational in 2030. Images |Baatcheet Films | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo In Xataka | The Catalan Sateliot company lifts 70 million euros with a clear objective: to display the “Spanish Starlink of the IoT”

Spain wants to be the paradise of the data centers. The blackout has complicated that ambition

by

Spain aspired to be The great HUB of data centers in Europetaking advantage of our surplus electrical capacity and the abundant physical space that we have available outside the large metropolitan areas. But The recent national blackout has exposed the structural vulnerabilities that could make this ambition derail, as analyzed The confidential. Why is it important. The data centers could attract up to 49,000 million euros in investments, representing a new form of industrialization for a country that has seen its traditional productive fabric diminish. In figures: The contradiction. The Spanish model has A difficult tension to solve that the blackout has put on the table: On the one hand, the commitment to renewable, necessary but variable. On the other hand, the nuclear abandonment plan, precisely those that give stability to the network. Yes, but. The data centers exceeded the blackout, as well as hospitals or radio stations, thanks to their support generators. However, the risk is in the perception of international investors. Seeing that a national blackout is a real possibility in Spain because it has already happened is something that can make them question their reliability about the Spanish system from something as basic as the energy supply. The competition. France, neighboring country, is the most notable rival: it is developing A data gigafactoría backed by the State and financed by United Arab Emiratesfed by a network where 70% comes from nuclear energy. Spain recovered from the blackout in a few hours – with some hard consequences along the way -, but perhaps it costs him more to recover from the problem of perception generated by such an event. The one who questions If you can guarantee basic stability that this industry demands … or if investors will prefer destinations with greater energy certainty. Outstanding image | Claudio Schwarz in Unspash In Xataka | “11 signs that you have ADHD and you don’t know it”: more and more people are self -diagnosis of mental health problems

both in a blackout and if you are away from home without plug

by

We are going to give you a series of tips for extend your mobile battery when there is no electricity. We have already told you How to load your mobile battery if there is no electricitybut in the event that this is not an option, today’s advice will help you spend as much as possible. Although I am aware that it will not always be possible for you to do everything we advise you, it never hurts to know these methods. Thus, when the time is necessary, you will know what things you can do to lengthen the device’s battery, and you can decide which of them you can use. We have oriented these tips such as that of a blackout in your home, although they will also serve when you are out and do not have a plug close. And remember, if you think we have left something you can say it in the comments so that all readers can benefit from the knowledge of our xatakers. Activate energy saving mode Almost all mobiles, both Android and iPhone, have A mode of energy saving or low consumption. These modes temporarily reduce the activity in the background, and will help you spend less battery and it can last longer. Among the processes that the mobile is going to limit are email checks, the frequency of screen update, some visual effects or automatic downloads. However, the idea is that the mobile does less background without you know, and thus save battery. Screen brightness and dark mode The brightness of the screen is one of the things that spend the most battery on your mobile, and that is why limiting it is vital for your battery to last longer. Therefore, although you activate the energy savings mode, it is Reduce your screen shineit is advisable that you also try to reduce it a little more by hand. Just to see. At least there are, less battery you will spend when using it. It is also highly recommended activate dark mode as long as you can and in all the applications you can. Thus, the interface of your mobile and your apps will use dark tones instead of lights, emitting less luminosity and saving battery. Disable unnecessary connections You should also try to deactivate unnecessary connections. This means turn off the wifi, bluetooth, NFC and even mobile GPSsince they are elements that are constantly update and that makes battery spend. Bluetooth and NFC are the easy part, unless you have linked a clock to the mobile by the first. The data is better than the wifi, and the GPS is sending your position all the time, that is, when you deactivate it you will save a lot of battery. Keep these elements deactivated during the time you want to extend your autonomy to the fullest. If there is no coverage: plane mode If your mobile has no coverage, the effort to be looking for it continuously will make an extra battery expense. Therefore, in those cases the best is activate airplane mode When you don’t have data. That will make your battery keep up without that extra consumption. If you want, you can remove the airplane mode from time to time to see if it has come to you, but if not, put it again. And of course, When you want an extreme mode to save batteryyou can also activate it even if you have coverage, and deactivate it only when you are going to use the mobile. Deactivates automatic synchronizations Whenever you can, deactivate the automatic synchronizations of your mobile applications. For example, applications of email, photos or your cloud storage They will be doing online checks all the time to extract new data and synchronize them, something that will spend drums. Removing these synchronizations, you will lose things like you automatically reach emails or that your photos are uploaded to the cloud without clicking on the option to do so. But in return, you can win a small extra on the battery of your device. Use maps without connection In Xataka Basics we have explained you How to have the maps of your area on your Android or iPhone. This will allow you to have the maps down to the mobile and use them without connection. Therefore, and although we have recommended you to deactivate the GPS, If you need to use your map appit is advisable that you have lowered the data in your area. Doing this, instead of spending battery with both GPS and Internet data, you will no longer need to use the data. Everything will be lowered to the mobile and you can use Google Maps or Apple Maps without Internet connection. Use the Mobile Lantern If the blackout comes when it is night, you will be dark. That means that you may have to use your mobile as a flashlight. This is done with the flash of the camera, and you will have a very good lighting, although at the expense of spending a lot of battery. But although the blackout forces you to do it, try Use the flashlight as much as possibleand only in specific moments. Come on, it is best to use it for a few seconds when you need to locate things, but then turn it off again instead of leaving it on. Close apps in the background Normally it is not recommended to go to the screen of the apps that you have open in the background and close them, because when you open them you will end up spending more battery than if you have them open. In addition, the operating system of your mobile will manage them if problems do not spend too much. However, In extreme cases you may choose to close the apps in the backgroundor at least those that you are not going to use. Of course, remember that it is important not to open them again, because if you will not end up spending … Read more

These are the things I did during the blackout so as not to get bored, and what will I do if there is a light cut again

by

Behind him Mass blackout That we suffered a few days ago, I could use the mobile because I had an Internet connection. But there came a time when it didn’t work, so I took the opportunity to perform some activities to avoid boredom until the electricity supply arrived again. I made some, and others will do them in the hypothetical case of having a light cut. Take the opportunity to read at the ereader I’m currently reading ‘THE WAY OF THE KINGS‘, the first novel that begins the Archive of Brandon Sanderson’s storms, but had taken the reading for a week. I took the opportunity to continue reading a few digital chapters, using the Kobo Clara 2E. This model is no longer sold, so if you want a similar one Kobo Clara Color has a price of 169 euros In Mediamarkt. In Amazon it is cheaper, but the shipment takes several months. A EREADER It can come very well for prolonged moments in which we are left without light, since in addition to being able to save many digital books They usually have a several weeks autonomy. * Some price may have changed from the last review Start Berserk Nor did he have too much battery in the ereader, I did not want to exhaust her completely in case the light took too long to return. So taking advantage of the first two volumes from ‘the first two volumesBerserk‘, I decided to start Kentaro Miura manga. The first ‘Berserk’ volume has a price of 16.10 euros In its edition of Maximum Berserk. The truth is that it is a reading that I had pending for a long time, but that I bought, as I commented, a week ago. It is not the most premium edition, but it is very good. * Some price may have changed from the last review Play one Taking advantage that my partner was at home and that in my city it was festive (there was nothing open), we decided to play for a while ONE. We do not have many board or card games, but precisely the Deluxe edition We bought it a while ago and so far we had not played. Deluxe Cuesta edition 17.95 eurosbut the basic edition is cheaper, since it is found by 9.97 euros. * Some price may have changed from the last review Play the Nintendo Switch Although I have been playing some time without playing Nintendo SwitchI have connected it to the dock, so when the light left, the battery had completely charged. I took the opportunity to play just over half an hour at ‘The Talos Principle‘. However, the Nintendo console can be a good source of entertainment, at least for a few hours. Nintendo Switch currently has a price of 275 euros. In addition, he had several Video games in cooperative Local that are compatible with the Joy-with individual (although I also have a separate command), so, despite not getting to play them, we had in mind that we could spend some time playing the games. Nintendo Switch (standard) * Some price may have changed from the last review A puzzle To take advantage, above all, the sunny hours, I will bring the puzzles that I left for a long time at my parents’ house. I always let time pass and in the end I never start to ride them, so in this type of situation it may be well to take that step. Although it is not especially cheap, this Puzzle of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ I find it interesting to buy it. It has 2,000 pieces, so it can take a good time (or days) finish it. Can be found in Amazon by 32.69 euros. Puzzle of the Lord of the Rings (2,000 pieces) * Some price may have changed from the last review Some of the links of this article are affiliated and can report a benefit to Xataka. In case of non -availability, offers may vary. Image | Xiaomi In Xataka | These are some of the best batteries to be informed when there are unexpected light blackouts In Xataka | Five external batteries or powerbanks to have the mobile loaded for hours after an electric blackout

Spain suffered a mass blackout. The distributed teleworking came immediately to save many companies

by

Spain has lived an unprecedented fact in its history: A generalized blackout that affected the electricity supply of The entire Iberian Peninsulaincluding Portugal. As a collateral effect due to saturation, the mobile communications network He also collapsed. This made the normal development of The working day. So many companies ended up closing their doors. The blackout that Spain has suffered has been A very extreme casebut teleworking and, above all, distributed work has saved the furniture of those companies that did not have a staff structure based on workers resident in a single citycountry and even continent. While many companies They were forced at closing For not having electricity or Internet access, including those with remote employees, companies with remote workers distributed throughout the world demonstrated their resilience to any local incidence such as the one that left Spain in the dark. We have talked to two of those companies that could maintain their activity in Spain thanks to remote work distributed by different countries. Distributed work and global blackout templates One of the things that the proliferation of the Teleworking after the 2020 pandemicis that talent It no longer has borders And, thanks to technology, someone in Bali I could be teleworking For a Spanish company without any problem. Some digital native companies such as Eventbritea platform for the sale of tickets and events, broke with their centralized organization following the pandemic, and chose to redesign their structure in A decentralized model Based on small teams distributed throughout the world, but mainly in the US, India and Spain. Jaime ValloriVice President of Eventbrite engineering assured that Thanks to that decentralized structureEventbrite continued to function normally while the blackout lasted. “We organize in teams (Squads) that are responsible for the maintenance of the detail pages of certain events. On Monday, the Squads of Spain is not that they could not do the maintenance of those events, they could not even know if something happened because they could not access,” Vallori told us. Before such a scenariothe rest of the teams located outside Spain took over from their teammates. “We activate a protocol so that the teams we have in the United States and India, proactively monitoring those areas that we covered from Spain, but obviously, could not be covered by our team,” said Eventbrite Engineering head in Spain. Vallori stressed that the platform has an incident alert protocol that is automatically climbing to different equipment if it is not answered in a certain period of time. “Since we are geographically distributed, throughout that protocol there is people from different areas of the world Until you get up at all. Therefore, although we had not given us time to activate that checkup (of local events) proactively, in the end through the scaling, it would have reached someone who could access and resolve the incidence, “Vallorí explained. “Our customer service is also distributed between the United States and other countries,” says Vallori. Therefore, if someone with sufficient coverage In Spain I would like to be attended by the company’s customer service could have done so because it remained active despite the fact that the development team in Spain was not operational. Blablacar continued moving in the dark Víctor Méndez, Vice President of Engineering of Blablacar, already told us the Advantages of having a remote template distributed by different countries. Resilience to an event like the blackout that Spain has suffered is one that can add to its list. Florent BannwarthCountry Lead de Blablacar, lived in the first person the disconnection of your entire team of the company’s infrastructure. “He had time to see him come a little and notify France and other countries from which he was going to come to Spain. No one was going to be able to use the platform and we did not know when he was going to re -normalize. So from France they could organize and gave us support, “Bannwarth recalled. In addition to the shared car service, Blablacar also manages an international bus service, so it starts from France’s support was based on replacing the Spanish team in the management of those buses that came out of different parts of Spain. If not for them, This service would have stopped workingjust at the time when neither trains nor airplanes They operated normally. “The service worked without incident and had an important peak of activity, especially between Barcelona and cities in southern France such as Perpignan and Toulouse, many passengers. At the last minute the only thing that worked It was the bus“The head of the Blablacar team in Spain said. On the other hand, Blablacar’s distributed model allowed teams from other countries Maintain the operational platform in Spain so that it would not register incidents once the service was restored, avoiding delays in its implementation as it happened In the railway sector. “The next Tuesday was the day that the most reservations made in Blablacar in more than 15 years in Spain”, due to the need for urgent displacement of those who They had stayed halfway of his destinations because of the blackout. “Another advantage we had was that, part of the user service team that attends in Spanish, works from France and other countries,” although Spain’s staff of Spain was not operational, users who had coverage could solve their incidents normally. In Xataka | Companies that have eliminated teleworking are facing a big problem: they take longer to cover their vacancies Image | Unspash (Dmitry Grachyov)

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.