blackout

The six basic technologies that we recommend for your own “survival kit” before a blackout

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On March 26, the European Commissioner for Crisis Preparation and Management shared a video in which he detailed the elements that should include A Survival Kit. Yesterday, March 28, there was something unusual in Spain: A blackout that paralyzed the country. 60% of all the energy of the country fell spuided in a few seconds And, although security systems They went into actionit was not well into the night when the light, coverage and tranquility made their way through the Peninsula again. And what accompanied us in moments of loneliness and darkness were the technologies of the twentieth century that we thought surpassed. Twentieth century technologies to the rescue of the blackout In it Preparation Kitthe European commissioner explained that we had to have elements such as the identity document, cash, a flashlight, a lighter, a razor, a power bank, a radio, water and some food. The idea is to be able to survive for 72 hours with them, but although it is complicated (or that we hope) that a blackout like this Monday is repeated again, the truth is that it is not so bad idea to have a kit of this style at home. The reason? They were technologies that we believed obsolete those that helped us many during the night And, eye, during meals. There are elements of the EU kit that would help us little in this situation, but beyond that ‘backpack’, it would be interesting to have another preparation with certain basic elements for a blackout, last a few hours or paralize a country, like yesterday. Our recommendation would be as follows: Batteries – A basic. When it was confirmed that the situation was going for long, you could see tails in Chinese hardware stores and bazaars to get this type of batteries. They came to see posters warning about the availability of batteries in some shops and it is evident that they became an indispensable element for many to rescue another object they had in the drawer. Have a Pilas package At home it is not a bad idea and also They can be rechargeable Whenever we have the forecast to leave them loaded in case anything happens. Photo | Andrés Mohorte, Xataka Flashlights – The ideal companions of the batteries. It is ‘easy’ to have a flashlight at home, but it is also likely that many do not even know where it is. Have one flashlightand not only by drums, it is a good idea in these situations, but there are variants. For example, round light points based on a surface. Also what I used in my house: LED bulbs What use for photography, but that they go with His own batteriesThey last hours and give a lot of light even at the lowest level. Radio – The element that accompanied many yesterday. A small radio That it works better than with battery, since it will not consume resources of a Power Bank that we can use on the mobile and other elements. And it is something that reflected a lack that important mobiles have. You can go to the mobile looking for a radio app and you will find that, in their vast majority, they no longer have radio. Some old ones that we had at home may include it, but after this, and even if it will only be used once or twice in life, it is clear that manufacturers They should not cut something like that. Gas Camping – Those three elements are the basics that EU recommends and allow us to be informed and enlightened, but … What happens to food? The ‘vitro’ and the induction system became useless, but if you do not have a butane or gas kitchen, perhaps it would be interesting to have a gas camping system. Yes, it sounds like a spectacular pot, but there are kits that, With a ridiculous size And good design, allow us to save it in a ridiculous space and be prepared to cook during a blackout. You have to buy some gas bottlesOf course, but the whole occupies little space and is useful even to cook certain dishes at home even if you have light. And a lighter or matches is not a bad idea either. Stoves – This blackout has caught us with temperatures that exceed 20º in many parts of the Peninsula, but a conversation I had was “less bad that it did not catch us in the middle of winter.” If we have butane or propane, there are heaters that occupy little and connect directly to the bottle. But there is also small heater Like the gas campsing that are more autonomous by not needing a bottle to work. SAI / Power Bank – Have one, or several, Power Bank At home it is not a bad idea. Not before a blackout, but before any type of long trip. Have some small ones for the mobile and A bigger And powerful that, even, I can feed a laptop or simply have more capacity to load mobiles, it is a good idea. And, if you work at home, maybe something like a SAI (Uninterrupted feeding system) It is not a bad idea. It’s like a giant power bank that gives you the option to safely turn off your PC and There are models With USB that allow us to load many devices thanks to both their capacity and its power. Having these elements is something that makes us more enjoyable those hours of blackout. And it seems a lie, but I, who had not turned to the radio for years, I was glad when I could start an old mobile with FM radio. And I also had many batteries at home, but nothing useful in introducing them. Lesson learned. Princincop image | Ricardo Aguilar In Xataka | After the blackout, Adif has a problem on its ways: three “lost” trains in remote states of the network

Having solar panels at home sounds very good in case of national blackout. The problem is that they don’t work

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The national blackout that Spain has suffered It has been historicalbut has also sown the doubt. While the vast majority of citizens ran out of light, in the street there was “life” in some supermarkets or marques that made the use of other renewable alternatives. Surely also, today more than ever many will ask about the need to have a solar installation in their home, which leads us to another question: how does a network of domestic panels work before a national blackout? Installation in normal conditions. Before talking about the case of a blackout as the one that occurred in Spain, it is convenient to explain the most basic of A “standard” installation In a typical home. In most cases, solar panels capture the radiation of the sun and generate what we call DC (DC). This current passes through an investor that converts it in turn in alternating current (CA), and that is precisely what we use in homes. In Spain and in almost all countries, most solar facilities are connected to the electricity network (known systems as on-Grid). This allows, on the one hand, to consume solar energy directly in the house. On the other, pour the surplus to the network (which entitles economic compensation, such as the net balance or Simplified compensation). Finally, of course, it allows you to receive electricity from the network when there is not enough solar generation (for example, at night or on cloudy days). The problem occurs when there is a situation like that occurred yesterday. Installation in blackouts. When you have a photovoltaic installation in the house of only panels and there is a blackout, something contradictory but very important happens: even if you have solar panels working, the sky is sunny and the beginning of the day, your house is also It is left without electricity. As? Yes, this occurs by security regulations (for example, in Europe under the standard VDE 0126-1-1 and similar), all solar investors connected to the network must detect the loss of tension and turn off immediately, is what is called Anti-Isla protection. The reason? The reason for this “cut” is to protect network maintenance technicians: if there were thousands of houses by sending electricity to a supposedly “dead” network, it could be lethal for workers They are at that time repairing the failure. Therefore, if you have only solar panels connected to the network, you cannot use electricity during a blackout. Your solar panels are automatically disconnected. There is no more. The solution: batteries. If you also have batteries, the thing changes, although here the situation varies depending on the type of investor and configuration you have. If you have hybrid investors (solar + battery), there are modern investors that already allow to continue operating in what is called Island or back-up mode. This means that when they detect a blackout, they are physically disconnected from the network and come to feed only your house using solar energy and energy stored in your batteries. In addition, there are also systems for backup investors (The so-called back-up inverters), where a separate system is used that can feed a specific part of the house (for example, fridge, essential lights or internet). One More Thing. But even so, for this to work you need lithium or lead batteries properly sizeda hybrid investor compatible with operation in island mode or an inverter with backup function (Back-UP), a automatic cutting system that separates your home from the public network in case of blackout guaranteeing safety, and finally an electrical panel prepared to isolate non-essential loads (for example, it makes no sense to keep the electric oven or air conditioning on if the energy is limited). In any case and to place all this in perspective in the Spanish landscape, only 33% of facilities Current domestic lots in Spain include batteries. This means that most households with solar panels would continue to suffer electric cuts during a blackout like the one that occurred yesterday. The reasons are very varied, but the extra cost of investment of them after the solar installation (already large) is key. The promise of self -supply. All this leads to a final question: Is it possible to be self -sufficient (energetically) in Spain? The short response is no. The promise of solar self -supply on the peninsula is based on taking advantage of the high solar radiation (Spain receives on average between 1,600 and 2,000 kWh/m²/year) to generate clean energy and reduce dependence on the electricity grid, especially in single -family homes. Thanks to photovoltaic self -consumption and the Price drop Of the solar panels (more than 80% have fallen in the last decade), today it is technically possible to cover between 60% and 80% of the annual consumption of an average house in Spain only with solar energy, and in some cases, almost 100% If appropriate storage batteries are installed (although with the network hitch). The problem. However, self -supply has important limits: solar production is intermittent (there is no generation of night and lowers a lot in winter or cloudy days), the batteries remain expensive (between 4,000 and 9,000 euros a complete domestic installation) and its capacity only allows a few hours or days of autonomy without network. Plus: We already said it, the current legislation requires that the systems connected to the network be disconnected in blackouts if they are not equipped to function in Isla mode, which implies that, without a specific design (and of large disbursement), even with solar panels, you could run out of electricity in general cuts. Image | Pxhere In Xataka | What is the “energy zero” and why the supply can go suddenly but it takes hours to recover In Xataka | Spain is dark: a general blackout has left us all without light

The blackout in Spain has demonstrated which is the ideal means to inform in a crisis: the radio

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In the minutes that followed the Broady in Spain and Portugal At 12:32 yesterday, millions of people They wondered The same: “What happened.” In other crises, television, newspapers and of course the Internet are the clear alternatives to find out what is happening, but yesterday that was not possible. Almost everything failed, but there was a means of communication that allowed us to keep us informed: the radio. Where is the FM radio of the mobiles. The fragility of our communications caused the radio to erect as a unique solution to keep us informed. The mobiles had support for FM radio years, but this feature has disappeared in all current models. In fact It went from being an extra desired to an exclusive function of cheaper models. Something older mobiles do have that function by connecting headphones (which bend as antenna), and that allowed those who still have any of those mobiles could be informed thanks to that functionat least while the mobile battery lasted. Some brands keep them in some models. Xiaomi is one of the manufacturers that still includes support for FM radio in some of its Redmi family models, but of course not all. He Xiaomi Redmi Note 14s or the Redmi 14c They are good examples. The normal thing is that in recent terminals we will not find that option, which we can enable in older mobiles (such as Little m5he Motorola G73 5g or the Samsung Galaxy M23 5g) and also in input range terminals and in less extended brands such as Doogee or Ulefone. Radio as informative lifeguards. Without light there was no television or wifi in houses and offices, and connect to the Internet It was an odyssey all day: Mobile lines, the only ones that could give a way out, worked irregularly … If they worked. And yet, the radio worked without apparent problems. Transistor to batteries. Meanwhile, those still kept a battery transistor at home could be informed thanks to the radio stations continued to broadcast during the blackout. These transistors became the salvation of many citizens, who either had radios in their homes or gathered in the streets around vehicles with analog radios or that could listen to the radio What other people had in the streets or on the terraces. They were also one of the products that They sold out more quickly in shops that remained active during the blackout. Why the stations continued to work. Augusto Molina and Héctor Zafra are respectively the technical director and the technical manager of the SER, and explained In a piece in this medium The way of proceeding in these emergency cases. The first thing they did was turn off monitors and all the teams that could be turned off to save to the fullest. That allowed maximizing the autonomy of emergency equipment that is used in these cases, and that were the key both in the SER chain and other stations. Electrogen equipment. These structure (motorogener) groups are machines that generate electricity through an internal combustion engine. They make use of fossil fuels (gasoline, diesel) and allow generating electricity while the fuel lasts. Are the teams that They are used in hospitals to maintain a good part of the essential services during this type of energy crisis. Several stations survived the blackout. National Radio of Spain kept for example emissions, such as They also did wave zero, the Cope chainthe aforementioned chain and other stations – although not all – and broadcasters who could continue to inform thanks to those emergency teams that were activated during the blackout. Radio as lifeguard in emergency situations. What happened yesterday has revealed the relevance of the radio as an ideal means of communication to emergencies. There have been numerous cases in the story in which that has become evident. In our country they stand out for example The coup d’etat of 23-F In Spain, in 11m or more recent attacks The Dana that ravaged the Valencian Community and that caused the majority of the electric laying. Transistors, both in one and another, allowed to remain informed. Image | Xataka In Xataka | Five annual pounds and a telephone line: how the electrophone, the “spotify” of the nineteenth century worked

In full blackout throughout Spain and confusion among the population, an alert system shone for its absence: Es-Alert

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Yesterday we attend an unprecedented event in our country. From one moment to another and in a matter of five seconds, 60% of all energy vanisheddisappeared. The entire peninsula ran out of light. The reasons are unknown how it was unknown in certain points of Spain that the blackout had been general. The light fell, ergo the wifi. Telecommunications, mobile networks fell, and networks were saturated. Contact family and friends to know if they were fine was an odyssey, as was accessing to the media and social networks to inform themselves of the last hour. No one knew what was happening, its reach, the reasons or the state of the situation. In such a context, it is worth asking what happened to Es-alertthe emergency alert system. Who is-alert depends on. The Civil Protection alerts system was launched on February 22, 2023 and serves to send notices to all mobile phones within an affected area. It is integrated into the national alert network and, therefore, is managed by the Ministry of Interior through the National Center for Emergency Monitoring and Coordination (CENEM) of the General Directorate of Civil Protection. Notice example received through the ES-Alert system | Image: mobile xataka This system is known as “112 inverse” and is available in “any part of the Spanish territory with mobile telephony coverage, either 2G (GSM), 3G (UMTS), 4G (LTE) or 5G”, as They explained from Moncloa The day of its launch. Civil protection, meanwhile, exposes that “the ES-ALErt system is available to the Emergency Coordination Centers of the Autonomous Communities in the framework of the National Civil Protection System” and that these centers, together with the aforementioned CENEM, are the “responsible, within their area of ​​competence, to define and issue the alerts when the situation requires it.” In a nutshell, that competition falls to the Autonomous Communities. What situations is used? According to Moncloa, Es-Alert is designed for phenomena such as “floods, fires, adverse meteorological phenomena, volcanic or chemical accidents, among other emergencies.” The question is what happens to this system when there is no electricity, when telecommunications are falling and a very high percentage of the population has no coverage. A mobile will not receive the notice if it has no coverage or is in plane mode, although it will do so when you recover the signal The networks worked (a time). The mobile network remained active for a while thanks, in part, emergency generators. VodafoneMasorange and Telefónica They have confirmed that although the blackout had affected telecommunications services and the mobile network, part of the system had supply thanks to electric generators and batteries. Es -Elert depends on that infrastructure to work, the question is whether it would have been effective. Lights and shadows. While it is true that Es-Alert is practically agnostic to the device and the version of the operating system, its effectiveness depends on the fact that there is electricity and that the receiving phones have coverage. Assuming that the ES-Alert system was available (because as we already know, there was no electricity supply), the reality is that an important thickness of the population would not have received the warning at the time because it did not have coverage. They would have received it when recovering the signal in the event that the emergency remained active in the area, but there is no guarantees that, by then, the notice would have been useful. Image | Fré Sonneveld Social networks. Public entities and organizations, which They urged the user to save battery and limit the use of mobilethey made their official communications through social networks such as X. Access not only to this social network, but to the media that echoed this information, it was not always possible due to the lack of coverage and mobile data network. The always eternal radio. The best informed citizen yesterday was the one who had a ancient operational radio thanks to two AA batteries. The radio works independently that there is coverage, mobile network or wifi. Emergency equipment They do not communicate by Walkie-Talkies By custom, but because in a fire in which everything has fallen, the radio will continue to function. If the broadcaster and the receiving device work, there is communication, and that is what happened precisely yesterday. The radios continued to function and counting the last hour of the blackout, which shows that an invention of the late nineteenth century is still important in the middle of 2025. Cover image | Pere Jury In Xataka | Cercanías, Media and Long Distance, High Speed ​​and Metro: This is the situation of trains in Spain after the blackout

Why the fall of telecommunications was so unequal during the blackout in Spain

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Spain plunged yesterday into a unprecedented energy blackout. A complete fall of the national electricity grid that caused problems in essential services and, above all … communications. A few hours after the Energy zero throughout All Spanish territoryoperators such as Vodafone Spain kept active 70% of their mobile network. The question is how. How the network was kept alive. Despite the national blackout, Some operators like Vodafone They made their mobile network remain active thanks to reserve generators. Although popular perception may be that the network connection is a purely wireless technology, it depends completely on telephone stations (what we commonly know as antennas), some that need electricity to function. Before scenarios such as yesterday, all protocols were activated to keep them alive despite the disconnection with the national electricity grid. This was achieved thanks to two main actors: backup batteries and structure. Diesel and batteries. Groups such as Masmobic confirm Xataka that this maintenance of the network infrastructure was achieved thanks to its reserve generators located in the stations themselves, but also to displaced electrogen groups to each area. In Spain, the Low voltage electrotechnical regulation (REBT) It demands support systems in critical infrastructure. Image | Vodafone The autonomy of these systems is limited and variable. That a station can be fed for more or less time depends on the state of the batteries, the capacity of the generators and the logistics of the fuel supply. In the best case, structures can keep the service for 24-48 hours. If we talk about reserve batteries, autonomy usually ranges between two and eight hours. This is the main reason why Some networks continued to work after the blackout and also for which others began to fail after a few hours. A progressive fall. Vodafone managed to exceed 70% activity in the network at 3:00 p.m., maintaining autonomy in its network, datacentes and systems control centers. As the hours were advancing, the figure fell. At 23: 00h, mobile traffic fell to 60% with 50% of active nodes. Reason? After more than ten hours of blackout, some of the reserve batteries began to run out. Why I had no coverage and my neighbor yes. During the blackout, access to the mobile network was (and remains) variable, and this is due to several factors. The main is the difference in backup feed systems (SAI or generators) that have mobile phone antennas. Not all base stations have the same capacity to continue working without electricity supply: some have batteries with little autonomy, other generators that require fuel (diesel or gas), and their availability and maintenance vary. In the same way, Not all operators use the same infrastructure. Each company has its own (or rented) towers and nodes, which means that two mobiles can be connected to different antennas even being in the same area. Thus, it is possible that the antenna of your operator has stopped working before, while that of your neighbor – with another operator – remains active longer. The small operators. Vodafone proved to live up to 70% of the coverage, but smaller companies, with fewer nodes to connect and lower capacity to supply energy, faced a more complex situation. The so -called virtual mobile operators (OMV) “As Digi, Finetwork, Pepephone, Lowi, etc.,” do not have their own infrastructure. Instead, they rent access to the networks of the greats (Movistar, Orange or Vodafone). The immediate translation is that its operation depends completely on the conditions of the wholesale operator in each area. If the antenna to which a user of a secondary operator connects does not have sufficient support, or if your host network prioritizes other services, the user runs out of coverage more quickly and for longer. How long would they last before chaos. Telecommunications networks can survive without electricity supply for a limited time, but are not designed to resist prolonged blackouts. In the best of the scenarios, with well -supplied structures and batteries in good condition, some stations could be kept operational between 24 and 48 hours. Beyond that threshold, everything depends on the operator’s logistics capacity to replenish fuel. In that scenario, the first to run out of coverage would be users connected to secondary nodes or small operators, while critical or priority areas (hospitals, security forces, command centers) could maintain connection for longer thanks to emergency protocols. Image | Telefónica In Xataka | Neither trains, nor light, nor computers: the most chaotic working day will not have salary sales or dismissals for not going to work

Normal, with solar load and crank. Five external batteries to have the mobile loaded during a blackout

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Behind him Mass blackout That we suffer yesterday throughout the Peninsula, it has become clear that it is convenient to have one or more PowerBank (or external batteries) at home so that at least I can have the mobile with drums. But … which one to choose? In this article we have gathered different external batteries that can be very useful at a time with which we live yesterday with a light cut of many hours. IPOSIBLE WITH SOLAR LOAD by 35.95 euros With coupon, an external battery with solar panels. ANKER LAPTOP by 99.99 eurosan external battery that allows recharging to laptops. Xiaomi Redmi Fast Charge Power Bank by 14.99 eurosa very cheap external battery that has a good load capacity. Wastde with solar load and crank by 59.99 eurosan external battery designed to use it at all times. Anker Zolo by 20.89 eurosan external pocket battery with 30W load. IPOSIBLE WITH SOLAR LOAD One of the most interesting proposals of this list is External Iposible batterywhich is at Amazon at a price of 39.95 euros, although selecting the store coupon stays in 35.95 euros. And it is interesting because its capacity of 26,800 mAh is recharged by solar load, so we can be ready even if we have no light. Comes with four waterproof solar panels that can be folded, includes several USB ports (both USB-C as USB-A and Microusb) and its construction offers water resistance, blows and dust. The brand mentions that the battery offers more than 1,600 load life cycles. * Some price may have changed from the last review ANKER LAPTOP On the other hand, if what we are looking for is an external battery that even allows us to recharge a laptop (useful if the light cut has caught us when we were working), the ANKER LAPTOP It can be a very good purchase option. Costs 99.99 euros in Amazon and is very complete. The Anker Laptop is an external battery that comes with a capacity of 25,000 mAh. Includes three USB-C ports and offers a loading power up to 100Wso you can recharge a good assortment of devices. In addition, it allows recharging up to four devices at once. * Some price may have changed from the last review Xiaomi Redmi Fast Charge Power Bank If what we are looking for is an external economic battery, but also very useful, the Xiaomi Redmi Fast Charge Power Bank Right now it costs 14.99 euros In the official store. In addition, it comes with a capacity of 20,000 mAh, offers a power of 18W. Xiaomi’s external battery comes with a couple of USB-A ports, a USB-C port and another microusb. It also has temperature protectionagainst the short circuits, against overcurrent and also against the overtheions. Xiaomi Redmi Fast Charge Power Bank * Some price may have changed from the last review Wastde with solar load and crank Another of the most interesting proposals of this list is the Wastde external batterywhich comes both with solar load and with a crank. Its price at Amazon is 59.99 euros and stands out mainly for these two reasons: it can be recharged through the solar load or using the crank (very useful for the night). In addition to this, it comes with three output cables (Lightning, USB-C and Microusb) and three output ports (two USB-A and a USB-C). It allows to recharge many devices at the same time, has a capacity of 26,800 mAh and includes a flashlight with three modes: SOS, strobe and continuous. Wastde with solar load and crank * Some price may have changed from the last review Anker Zolo If what we are looking for is an external pocket battery that occupies very little space, the Anker Zolo It can be a very good purchase option. It is located at a price at a price of 20.89 euros And it can be stored practically in any pocket, since its dimensions are approximately 119.9 x 73.4 x 31.4 mm. In addition to this, the external battery offers a 30W load powerincludes an integrated USB-C cable, its capacity is 10,000 mAh and can be recharged in a short time thanks to its 20W power. * 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. Images | IPOSIBLE, ANKER, XIAOMI, WASTDE In Xataka | What do you need (according to the EU) for your survival kit and how much can it cost you? In Xataka | Best Power Bank to load your mobile phone. Which to buy and recommended external batteries

This is the situation of trains in Spain after the blackout

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Lost trains in the middle of nowhere (No chance of rescue three of them still at night), all completely stopped nearby services and the large cities collapsed in traffic shot at the lack of mobility in the suburban. The blackout that the April 28, 2025 In Spain he left us without trains and still, despite having recovered almost the entire electricity grid, the rail service continues to present some holes. This is what we know, what works, what does not work and how much we hope to return to normal. Half -gas trains With the generalized blackout yesterday, the Spanish rail system was completely stopped. To shelter travelers, the main Spanish train stations remained open at night although even this was not enough since Some people were out of them covered all capacity. Cercanías services With Renfe’s last update at eight in the morning, the situation is as follows. Lines that work normally or partially: The Cercanías de Asturias and Cantabria lines work normally. Madrid Cercanías: 50% planned service in all lines and in the C5 recovered between Humanes and Atocha and the sections between Pinto and Aranjuez and Guadalajara-Alcalá de Henares, which will not circulate from the beginning. Valencia Cercanías: 100% planned service in C2 lines from Valencia to Xàtiva and C6, without tension in the C1 in the section between chair and gandía. Suspended services: Rodalies in Catalonia The nearby Alicante, Zaragoza, Cádiz, Sevilla, Malaga, Bilbao and San Sebastián do not work. Medium and long distance and high speed services The following services do not work: Avant and Media Distance Services in Andalusia Medium distance and Alvia services in Extremadura High performance services of Ourense-Santiago de Compostela-Coruña and Vigo-Santiago de Compostela-Coruña. Avant service from Toledo Connections between Medina del Campo and Salamanca Metric width between Ferrol – Ortigueira and León – Guard. The following high -speed and long distance lines are working since the beginning of the service: Madrid-Barcelona. Madrid-Valencia/Murcia/Alicante. Madrid-País Vasco. Madrid-algeciras. Malaga-Granada Madrid-Asturias Madrid-Santander Madrid-Córdoba Madrid-Seville Lines that should recover normality throughout the day: Lines without service and without forecast to recover them until new notice: Madrid-Huelva. Madrid-Badajoz. Madrid-Cádiz. Madrid-Galicia. Madrid-Salamanca. Madrid-Logroño. Barcelona-Aliante (Euromed). Basque-Barcelona country. Renfe points out that affected travelers can request the return of the ticket or the change without cost in the Renfe sales channels. To make a trip, the passenger will be able to go to the stations and look for a way to comply with one of the available squares. Metro services As for the operation of trains in the Metro network of the big cities, the situation is as follows: Private services Iro has announced that has recovered normality in the services provided in the corridors of Madrid-Valencia and Madrid-Barcelona. Photo | Xataka In Xataka | The blackout has caused important smoke in several Spanish refineries: it is a sign that security systems have worked

After the blackout, Adif has a serious problem on its ways: three “lost” trains in remote states of the network

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Although electric service has begun to recover, almost medium Spain continues in the dark and the sequelae of the blackout remain palpable. In the field of transport, 35,000 passengers trapped were rescued by Renfe, Adif and the Military Emergency Unit (UME). However, there are still three trains to recover. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, He explained that these units are in areas especially difficult to access. Rescue equipment deployed throughout the morning. Since the supply cut occurred on Monday after 12:30, ADIF, Renfe rescue teams and the UME work continuously to recover trapped trains in different parts of the rail network. The difficulty does not reside solely in the lack of electricity, but that some convoys were isolated in difficult access areas, which complicates rescue maneuvers. Adif had already warned That the average and long distance services would not operate throughout the day, regardless of the evolution of the supply, and the suspension also extended to the nearby and rhodalies lines. A clear objective: to recover rail mobility. The government has stressed that one of the priority objectives is to restore the trains circulation as soon as possible, starting with the nearby lines. Pedro Sánchez has pointed out that the objective is to restore mobility in vicinity as soon as possible and also in average and long distance throughout Tuesday, the media and long distance services can also be resumed, although he has clarified that the recovery will ultimately depend on how the electric supply evolves. In parallel, the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, has pointed out That the tension is beginning to stabilize in some areas of the rail network, allowing several trains to resume their march. At the Atocha station, in Madrid, the arrival of at least seven trains that were detained is expected. Click to see the original message in x Open stations as improvised shelters. To mitigate the impact on travelers, Adif has enabled several of its main stations as places of night shelter. Stations such as Atocha, Chamartín, Sants, Valencia, Bilbao, Sevilla, Córdoba, Zaragoza, Valladolid and Malaga will remain open during the night so that those affected can be protected. Besides, The UME has deployed Mantas and basic resources to serve passengers who have been forced to spend the night in the stations. The origin of the blackout, still under investigation. While the recovery work advances, the cause of the blackout remains a source of research. The Government has explained that it occurred The sudden loss of 15 GW of electricity generationa phenomenon that has no precedents in the Spanish energy system. At the moment, no hypothesis about what happened is ruled out. Images | Renfe In Xataka | The fact that illustrates the magnitude that Spain has lived with the blackout: 60% less demand in five seconds

The blackout in Spain raised the possibility of a cyber attack. The EU rules out

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He General blackout throughout Spain has caused great uncertainty about the potential causes of this “Energy zero”. One of those that are considered is that of a possible cyber attack, and agencies such as the National or Incibe Cryptological Center are investigating that option, they point out in the SER or In the country. In the last decade there has only been a great case of this type. The EU discards cyber attack. As media point out Like the worldTeresa Ribera, executive vice president for the clean, fair and competitive transition, has indicated that “there is nothing that allows us to affirm that there is some kind of boycott or cyber attack.” In his appearance before the media, Pedro Sánchez stressed that the causes of the incident are not yet known and does not rule out any option. Few outstanding cases. On December 23, 2016, the Ivano-Frankivsk region, in southwest Ukraine, He suffered a blackout as a consequence of a coordinated cyber attack that affected three of the main Ukrainian electricity companies in the region. The problem affected tens of thousands of people for a period between three and six hours. The following year a more sophisticated cyber attack caused a blackout again that affected kyiv residents, also in Ukraine. The country has been affected by blackouts after the Russian invasion after the attacks of Sandworm, a cybercrime unit associated with Russian intelligence, indicated in Tarlogic. But having them, there are. In November 2023, a series of coordinated cyber attacks affected the Denmark Energy Sectoralthough there were no blackouts but data theft. Tarlogic experts highlighted how these types of problems have increased. None, yes, has affected an almost complete country, as would have happened in this case. Usual suspects. In June 2019 A great blackout It affected 48 million people in Argentina and Uruguay. At that time there were suspicions of a potential cyberraade as the cause of the problems, but the Argentine government Indian that the cut was due to a failure in one of the transport systems from one of its hydroelectric plants in Yacryátá. It is therefore relatively frequent to associate such an event with a potential cybersecurity problem. And then, Stuxnet. What we know is how eeuu and Israel created Stuxnet malware In the second half of the 2000s. This malware managed to damage Iran’s critical infrastructures, specifically Its nuclear power plants And that showed that certain cyber attacks can be directed to critical infrastructure. The possibility is there. As they pointed out in 2019 in El Confidencial, Spain in fact already tried to prepare for this type of event. Experts like Rubén Santamarta They had warned of that risk already in 2011. During the blackout the National Cryptological Center (CNI) has indicated that the blackout could be a consequence of a cyber attack, According to the reason. Spain usually receives threats of this type. The National Center for Infrastructure and Cybersecurity Protection (CNPIC), under the Ministry of Interior, indicated in El Confidencial In 2019 that there were already “attempts at illicit accesses to this type of infrastructure.” From the country They pointed out a few months ago how Spain receives about 40,000 daily threats of diverse type. One more option, but just that. There are no data that can point to a cyber attack and therefore although the possibility is there, there is no confirmation. The blackout is exceptional and extraordinary, as indicated by Red Electrica and Spanish, which of course is also investigating what the origin of the problem has been. Image | Markus Spiske In Xataka | Another prequel of the ‘great blackout’: the solar storm that shook the world the 660 AC today would have very serious consequences

The precedent closest to the great blackout of Spain was lived in 2003. And it also began in the interconnected network

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Few events show our electricity dependence as a mass blackout. And few blackouts have been as extensive as the one that has affected all of Spain today. But there is a precedent of similar characteristics that still remember in neighboring Italy: the great blackout of 2003. The day Italy was dark. On September 28, 2003, practically all the Italians (57 million people) were left without light. The ruling began in the Swiss Alps, demonstrating, as has happened today, the fragility of interconnected networks. It all started at 3:01 in the morning in a high voltage line that crosses the passage of Lukmanier, between Switzerland and Italy. A storm whipped the area. According to subsequent investigations, the branch of a tree hit the wiring, causing a short circuit and its automatic disconnection. It all started with a tree. The fall of a tree should not have been catastrophic. Electrical networks are designed with redundancies to avoid it. However, the demand for energy in Italy at that time was high, and the country depended significantly on the imports of electricity in Switzerland and France. The loss of the Lukmanier line increased the load on the other interconnections. In less than half an hour, a second crucial line, that of the Paso de San Bernardino, also failed. The exact reasons were subject to dispute (Switzerland said there were overloads not communicated by Italy, Italy blamed Swiss management), but the result was overwhelming: Italy lost suddenly a huge capacity to import energy and went out. The domino effect. At 3:27 am, the country remained dark. The almost simultaneous loss of these two great energy arteries had been too much for the Italian network. The frequency of the network began to fall dangerously below 50 Hz, and automatic protection systems, designed to avoid higher damage to generators and equipment, began acting in cascade. Electric centrals throughout Italy began to automatically disconnect from the network to protect themselves. This self -defense mechanism, however, aggravated the problem: the more centrals they disconnected, the greater the imbalance between the remaining little generation and demand, accelerating the collapse. In a matter of minutes, the Italian electricity grid was completely fragmented and collapsed. The blackout affected the entire Italian Peninsula, from the Alps to Sicily. The exception? The Island of Sardinia, which has an independent power grid and not connected to the continental system (as the Canary Islands here), as well as some small border areas that received a direct supply of neighboring countries. The biggest blackout in the history of Italy. The blackout surprised Italy in the early morning of Sunday. Although this mitigated the initial chaos compared to the blackout of Spain (fewer people in public transport, in factories, locked in elevators), the impact was deep and durable throughout the day. Thousands of passengers were also trapped in trains in the middle of nowhere. Hospitals and emergency services activated their diesel generators, but the situation tested their abilities. The meters of cities like Rome and Milan stopped working. The traffic lights went out, complicating traffic. Although many mobile phone antennas had batteries, overload affected communications in some areas. In Rome, the blackout coincided with the “Notte Bianca”, the annual night in which museums open, there are concerts and night activities. Everything was interrupted, plunging thousands of citizens in unexpected darkness. The lack of electricity lasted for hours. A delicate recovery. Restore the electricity supply after a total collapse (the now famous start From energy zero) It is not as simple as pressing a switch. Italy showed that it is a slow, complex and gradual process. Many of the large thermal plants needed external energy to start their own auxiliary systems. As the centrals generate energy again, they have to synchronize perfectly in frequency and voltage with the incipient network. An error can cause new disconnections. Demand must gradually reintroduce as the generation increases. Connect too fast load can overload the newly restored network and cause another collapse. It is a delicate dance between supply and demand. Between four and 18 hours. For these reasons, the recovery was unequal. The regions of northern Italy, closer to European interconnections and with greater capacity for their own generation, began to recover electricity in about 3-4 hours. However, the center and south, especially Sicily, took much more. Some areas remained without electricity for 18 hours or more. Finally, electricity was restored block to block, city to city, in a process that extended during almost all of Sunday. The Italian blackout of 2003 remains a case study on the complexity and fragility of our energy infrastructure. A reminder that small events like a fallen tree can turn off a whole country. Image | Victor Romero (Flickr, CC BY-C-SA 2.0) In Xataka | What is the “energy zero” and why the supply can go suddenly but it takes hours to recover

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