Chapter · Spain · Today
Four hundred and seventy-two pages
The blackout of 28 April 2025, read in the report
On 28 April 2025 Spain and Portugal lost all their electricity in under ninety seconds. This path reads the European report that reconstructs the sequence, and refuses to name a single cause.
Context first
A lesson to read before the others, to set the scene.
- The place
- The era
- The people
Four hundred and seventy-two pagesOn 28 April 2025 Spain and Portugal lost all their electricity in under ninety seconds. A European report of 472 pages blames a combination of factors rather than any single cause.9 min
The lessons in this chapter
- 1Two oscillations before half twelveHalf an hour before the blackout two oscillations cross the grid: one forced by a converter, then one between areas. The measures that damp them push the voltage up.10 min
- 2A fixed power factorThe report does not indict solar but a setting: the renewable producers followed a fixed power factor, which leaves their reactive power blind to the very voltage somebody had to hold.10 min
- 3Four hundred and thirty-five kilovoltsIn twenty-two seconds more than two and a half gigawatts leave the Spanish grid through protection trips, and the peninsula separates from Europe. Twelve hours to relight Portugal, sixteen for Spain.10 min
How these lessons are written
Each lesson starts from first-hand sources: Wikisource, Gallica, Persée, archives, museums and institutes. A fact without a source does not get written, and every lesson lists its own as direct links.
The rhythm
A lesson is five minutes of cards and four questions. Those questions then come back the next day, then at 3, 7, 21 and 60 days, and that return is what makes it stick. One a day is enough, and you can do several in a row.