My Experience with the Multi-Country Power Outage in Portugal & Spain

Another year and yet another pseudo crisis.

Much like the blackout we experienced in Canada back in 2013, and the last two forest fires, this was less about logistical issues, but really about reflection on my own state of preparedness.

Now, I am sure you know the gist of what happened, because this story (for good reason) made international headlines.

The power grid collapsed across Portugal & Spain (and it seems some parts of France as well) for many hours.

For us here in Portugal, near Lisbon, the electricity was gone for nearly the whole day, but was back before nightfall.

We lost electricity around 10 AM and didn’t get it back until 9 PM.

Unlike most blackouts, this included all cell comms going down, and this was honestly the only really stressful part of the whole experience: the lack of knowing what was up.

Now, you might say – Thomas, just turn on the radio. But sadly, I am ashamed to say this, but I didn’t have one handy. I know, I know. This situation has been rectified.

Elise wanted to interject here to mention she didn’t understand the HAM radio wasn’t viable in this type of situation, and that she thought all the radio channels would be in Portuguese – which we don’t understand.

But I rectified these misunderstandings, explaining what HAM radios were for and that there are entire radio channels exclusively in the English language in Portugal, and bought a multi-band radio so we’d never be out of the loop again.

In terms of lessons learned, the biggest enemy without the internet was boredom.

Granted, I could have stepped outside and touched grass, but realistically I prefer to sit in my favourite chair and complain. I didn’t have many books loaded on the kindle (though I have plenty of books and comics in print I didn’t feel like opening), and sadly my entire home network (NAS), which is where I hoard my collection of movies, TV shows, e-books, and so on – runs off mains power.

To which you might ask, didn’t you just install 8 new solar panels?

Yes. I did. Sadly I am not fully off grid, so when the grid goes down my panels don’t kick in – as it would be a safety risk for the linemen.

You can disconnect from the grid, but then you really have to disconnect from the grid.

So yes, I had to do the unthinkable with the family. We cleared the dining room table and worked on a jigsaw puzzle.

Now here’s the analysis.

What the Full Day Power Outage Taught Me

Areas of Improvement for the Next Power Outage

Areas where I fucked up:

I own lots of flashlights, only 2 lanterns. Big difference in practical use and something I didn’t consider.

I didn’t really plan for entertainment and that was regrettable. In the future I’ll have media like movies and TV shows loaded on a spare drive as well as having kindles loaded with books and possibly more ways to entertain ourselves in an uncertain environment.

Ironically we had a plethora of charged devices – from laptops to tablets, and no media to watch on them. This won’t be the case next time.

Didn’t have a way to reach out to people I cared about and didn’t have clear plans in place regarding just coming here.

This wasn’t the biggest deal considering Elise’s brother and his spouse live quite literally on the street behind ours, but that’s what made us considerably more lazy about having ideal ways to reach out and clear plans for emergencies.

I didn’t have any need to go out and buy things, but I don’t have as much cash on hand as I should have.

I didn’t have enough snacks. Had lots of food that we didn’t have to open our fridge or freezers to access – including dried grains, canned foods, and bread, but not being a snacker, this was an oversight.

As mentioned, I didn’t have a radio which limited my news to neighbours gossip, etc. (Although I will say, it shouldn’t be underestimated insofar as how easy it is to get news and updates this way in Portugal, even though we don’t speak Portuguese).

Areas of Strength in This Power Outage

Areas where I nailed it:

I have a 400 L chest freezer now. A recent acquisition. It’s an ideal size, not too big or small, and keeps food frozen for 72 hrs without power. Awesome.

I have enough on hand of everything for everyone, to the extent that no one was really perturbed by the situation despite the lack of news.

I have plenty of power on hand to keep devices running for a solid week and a way to prolong it indefinitely should the need arise.

Off grid stovetop & water heating (these are gas-powered and we have enough in our two large propane tanks to last us roughly 6 months of showering and cooking, without any rationing of resources).

This means that showering + morning coffee (and cooking, though we didn’t need to in this case) were a non-issue.

So yes, a mixed bag of experiences. I do think should the power outage have continued for a week we would have been better off than most, but the interesting thing about minor situations like this is we tend to default to regular behaviour as crisis points never really hit.

I do wonder at what point I would make the conscious decision that we are in a crisis and thus I should work on redundancies like my water storage.

So far, the most notable experiences I’ve had with emergency situations – including this one, the 5 nights and 4 days without power in a Canadian winter, a house fire a stones throw away from my home, and forest fires near our home in Portugal, have never really rankled me to the point of feeling any need to channel my inner “it’s go time.”

A benefit of being prepared I suppose.

As for the neighbours, they just chilled and gossiped on the street. No one as far as I could tell was worried, just annoyed, which was more or less what I expected.