Obviously, we were unable to publish anything on the nationwide outage but we were able to follow what was happening on a good-ol' fashioned transistor radio.

As you all know by now power went about a quarter to one yesterday afternoon leaving everybody with no telephones, electricity in homes and at work and no Internet and consequently… no social media.

The Prime Minister broadcast to the nation via Radio Nacional (equivalent to the BBC) twice with the second time after the cabinet meeting at 19.00h to explain what was happening.

He explained that the Spanish electricity network lost 15 gigawatts in just five seconds, which crashed the system. To give you an idea, 15 gigawatts is equivalent to 60% of power output, or if you prefer 15 nuclear power stations.

Fortunately, both France and Morocco started pumping electricity into Spain which is why places like Bilbao got their supply back earlier than anybody else, as did Algeciras.

However, you can’t just throw a switch and hey presto everybody gets power because it is a slow and complicated procedure to get the system running, starting first with the hydroelectric stations. Fortunately the reservoirs, especially in the North are full, so there was no problem there.

This electricity was needed to fire up the gas or combined, power stations. They have emergency generators to initiate the cycle but they need power from the hydro stations. Then you have the nuclear stations, which in a massive power outage automatically shut down. They have battery reserves and emergency generators, but these are needed to stabilise the conditions around the rods, so they also need power from the grid to get back online.

Now, solar power is huge in Spain, so it was used in getting the system up, as well, but the problem was that as dusk approached this source begins winding down.

So the whole thing was a tremendous balancing act; whilst the technicians were running through the protocols, which is tested out once a year, there was the population to worry about.

No electricity meant no trains; not just the electric ones but all of them because all the signals etc were out, so the whole Spanish rail-network was shut down leaving 35 passenger trains stranded; we’re talking about thousands of people. Accommodation was provided at large train stations because although passengers could be rescued, there was no way to get them back home or to wherever they were going.

Air travel was less affected because all airports have huge battery reserves and emergency generators, so as long as the ATC towers and baggage carousels were working, the system worked. Of the 6,000 programmed flights that day only about 350 were cancelled.

No electricity means that gasolineras can’t pump fuel, so cars couldn’t refuel. As for electric cars, you can imagine; not only those belonging to members of the public, but all those municipal buggies, too.

No electricity also means that municipal water supplies were affected (I still have no water this morning).

Anyway, we shall shortly do a follow-up article with more information.

Editorial comment: What a joy it was to see teenagers pushing mobile scooters or using them as scooters were originally intended, desperately clutching useless mobile phones, distraught and anguish-beset through being unable to get on social media.

(News: Spain)

Keywords: Power Outage, No Phones, No Internet, No Social Media, No TV, France, Morocco, Nuclear, Gas Power, Solar, Hydro-Electric

news, spain, power outage, no phones, no internet, no social media, no tv, france, morocco, nuclear, gas power, solar, hydro-electric

Reader’s comment: “It really was a strange day. Here in sunny Canabal, Lugo. We decided to get the barbecue out of hibernation. Fortunately Mercadona in Monforte de Lemos, was open. We got some meat and salad. We spent a fabulous evening dining under the stars, no light pollution. No distractions from social media. How many times do you go into the bathroom during a power outage and try to put the light on? My biggest loss of yesterday was not having any running water, no power for the pump in the borehole.” – Melania Briggs Kid