Spain and Portugal hit by unexplained power blackout.

The power is coming back on for parts of Spain and Portugal, more than 12 hours after the massive outage shut off traffic lights and caused chaos at airports, train stations and on the roads.

Both countries have declared states of emergency as authorities work to manage the situation.

It’s not clear why this is a big story in international news or why Spain and Portugal declared a state of emergency.  This time of year, it’s pretty pleasant on the Iberian Peninsula, and much of the power was back on after 6 hours.

Spain is a little bigger than California, and Portugal is a little smaller than Kentucky.  Power goes out in California all the time, and nobody seems to care.  When we had the Northeast blackout in 2003, nobody declared a state of emergency.  That covered five states and part of Canada.  Some people didn’t have power for three days.  It was an inconvenience. 

The size of the blackout doesn’t matter much.  If it effects you, then it’s a pain-in-the-ass.  Since it’s a big story, there must be lessons to be learned.

Some commentators are insisting that Spain relies too heavily on renewable energy.

Europe will be criticized for relying too heavily on trains, but that isn’t as big a deal in Spain or Portugal.  Outside of the city centers, cars are feasible.

My guess is that Spain and Portugal didn’t have sufficient backup systems in place.  When the power goes out in the US, cell phone service doesn’t usually drop out.  Most of our towers have backup power.  Even North Royalton High School has a big Caterpillar backup generator.  Spain and Portugal are big on the, “What could happen?” philosophy.  It isn’t hard to imagine that they don’t prep for future emergencies.