On 28 April, Spain experienced a complete blackout. Theo Reilly reports on how one event survived and managed the situation and how regionally based logistics experts at Europalco also reacted to keep one of their shows on the road
On 28 April, the lights went out in Spain as the country plunged into its worst blackout in decades. Parts of neighbouring Portugal were also affected.
The cybersecurity event Cyber Intelligence Europe was scheduled to start the following day. I spoke to organiser Martyn Hill to find out what it was like working through one of the biggest blackouts in European history.
Lights out as the grid fails
When the grid failed, Spain lost 60% of its power. Traffic lights went out, elevators stopped mid-journey and airports fell into chaos. “In my more than 40 years, I have never seen anything like it,” said Jorge Fabra, former president of Red Eléctrica, operator of Spain’s national grid.
Event attendees landed in Madrid and were queueing five hours for a taxi, with no phone signal and no word from the organisers.
Hill is co-founder of Intelligence-Sec, organisers of Cyber Intelligence Europe. The event focuses on cybersecurity strategies across Europe, convening government officials, military personnel and industry experts.
EW – Was Cyber Intelligence Europe 2025 affected by the power outages on 28–29 April?
MH – Yes. Many of our participants arrived in Madrid on 28 April. Some of them, myself included, had arrived at the event hotel in Madrid before the power outage hit at 12:30pm. Participants informed me that the queue for a taxi was over five hours long. Only cash payments were accepted.
EW – How did the blackout impact the event? Could you give us a brief timeline, up until the issue was resolved?
MH – Here’s the timeline:
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11:30 – I arrive in Madrid without issue
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12:20 – I check into the event hotel
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12:30 – Power outage hits Madrid
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13:00 – I go to the hotel reception where there’s a huge queue. Staff inform everyone that power will be back soon.
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13:15 – I speak with the hotel event coordinator, who informs me that I cannot access the meeting rooms as the key cards won’t work. They advise me to take a stroll into Madrid and come back later – which I do.
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17:00 – I arrive back at the hotel and see some of the participants in the hotel bar.
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17:30 – I speak with the hotel event team to find a solution if we have no power.
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21:00 – Hotel staff inform guests that they cannot provide wake-up calls as the phone system is still down. They advise guests to sleep with curtains open.
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22:30 – I wake up as all my bedroom lights came on and power is back up and running.
EW – How did you deal with the power outage? Did you have a plan in place to deal with it, or was it a case of responding in the moment?
MH – Although it was more about responding in the moment, we did have a plan in place if there was no power for the event. We would ask each speaker to present their PowerPoint slides directly from their own laptops on a high table/cocktail table, and we would change the layout of the room to allow everyone to see the screen.
The meeting rooms we had booked had natural light, so darkness would not have been an issue. Hotel doors weren’t opening to the rooms, but there was an outside entrance. It would have been challenging but we could have made it work.
EW – In terms of how attendees, sponsors and exhibitors reacted – it must have been quite chaotic. How did you handle communications?
MH – This was the hardest issue. No one could contact me and I couldn’t contact them. I always say no news is good news, so I was hoping that all the participants would be going ahead as planned.
When the power came back on in the evening my phone started pinging away with missed calls, emails and WhatsApp messages. Two speakers had their flights cancelled so I replied to say they could do their presentations remotely (we had power at the hotel). Both agreed.
Some participants messaged to say there was a five-hour queue at the airport for taxis. Others just messaged to say they were in Madrid and wanted to know if the event was going ahead as planned.
I decided to message everyone who had tried to contact me late that evening (28 April) and inform them all that the event was going ahead as planned. I said that if they were an exhibitor they could set up before the event started at 8:30.
EW – Will you now be reconsidering the host destination of Spain, or perhaps southwestern Europe in general, as a result of this?
MH – Not at all. The hotel staff were excellent – they stayed so calm. Together, we came up with an alternative solution in case of the power not being restored. On the evening of 28 April many people were at the hotel, as it was advised not to head out due to the darkness and no streetlights. The hotel were handing out nuts and crisps, and they also managed to provide a limited dinner service for everyone as well.
The people of Madrid were also extremely good. There was no panic. In the city centre, the tourist board was handing out free paper maps for tourists. Ice cream shop owners were handing out free ice creams to children and anyone who wanted one.
Many people were looking for an ATM. Only two were working in the city centre. Local residents were helping to direct me and others to find them. When I finally got there, there was an hour-long queue to get cash out.
A few of our participants were advised to take the free shuttle bus that the government put on for people arriving in Madrid. However, it only did one stop – Sol, the city centre. The hotel was about one hour’s walk from Sol.
One of our participants told me that she was completely lost and it was getting dark, so two young students walked with her to the hotel. It is because of these kind acts that I’m not put off hosting future events in southwestern Europe.
EW – What will this event change about how you plan your events in the future?
MH – Being able to think on your feet in the moment and trying to stay calm and logical is the lesson. It is stressful when things like this happen, but I’ve had to deal with the Covid pandemic when all our events got postponed and I had to deal with the volcanic ash cloud that came over Europe in May 2010.
EW – Overall, how did these blackouts impact the event?
MH – Overall, we had a couple of speakers who had to do their presentation remotely and a couple of attendees did not attend as they were unsure whether the event was taking place. Apart from this, everyone was there in Madrid and we hosted a good two-day conference and exhibition. The resilience of our participants was a huge factor. They were really impressive.
EW – Did any impromptu discussions crop up about topics like energy reliability?
MH – Yes, they did. Many speakers discussed how governments need to find alternative communication strategies when blackouts happen.
EW – Is there anything you’ve learned from the experience? Or anything you’d have done differently in hindsight?
MH – Looking back, I probably should have somehow got a message back to my team in the UK. Ideally, I would have asked them to send out an official email outlining our plans, informing participants that the event would still go ahead.
You just can’t prepare for situations like this. You have to adapt. We are thankful that attendees showed up, and that they were appreciative of us not cancelling the event. Considering the lengths they all went through to get themselves to the hotel in Madrid, it was a relief that the event went ahead.
How Portugal’s Europalco dealt with the blackouts
Portugal-based supplier Europalco also had events disrupted during the blackout. Founder and CEO Pedro Magalhães shared his account:
“We had two events in progress and two in setup on the day of the outage. The clients for the two ongoing events chose to stop and cancel them. Of the two in setup, one proceeded as planned and the other was cancelled.
“Europalco could have supported the ongoing events for approximately two hours, as the main equipment was backed by UPS systems. However, since catering services were involved and couldn’t function without power, the clients ultimately decided to cancel.
“We were prepared for outages lasting between four to eight hours. Once we realised it could extend further, we implemented additional measures – cutting down on power consumption and reducing the number of staff onsite to the minimum required.
“We believe event organisers should assess the level of responsibility associated with their event. For medium to high-responsibility events, we strongly recommend using backup power systems. Naturally, this involves extra costs – but it’s a matter of proper risk/reward assessment.
“Everyone was surprised at the time – it was a situation we had never experienced before. Now, there’s a clear awareness among the team that this could happen again, so we are actively exploring better ways to be prepared in case it does.”
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