How do you restart a country after a total blackout?

On 28 April 2025, Spain and Portugal lost their entire power grid in under thirty seconds. A power station needs electricity to start, so nothing could simply be switched back on: the grid had to be grown again, from a few dams that can start alone and from the lines to France and Morocco. This video follows that day hour by hour, from the voltage surge that brought the system down to the twelve islands of power Spain tried to build, most of which failed. It also looks at who is paid to stand ready for a day like that, and what will go first next time. Main sources: ENTSO-E, "Grid Incident in Spain and Portugal on 28 April 2025: Final Report of the Expert Panel" (2026-03-20): https://eepublicdownloads.blob.core.w... Red Eléctrica de España, "Incidente en el Sistema Eléctrico Peninsular Español el 28 de abril de 2025" (2025-06-18): https://d1n1o4zeyfu21r.cloudfront.net... Gobierno de España, "Informe del Comité para el análisis de las circunstancias que concurrieron en la crisis de electricidad del 28 de abril de 2025 (versión no confidencial)" (2025-06-17): https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/consejod... ERSE (Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos), "ERSExplica: Investigação ao apagão ibérico de 28 de abril de 2025" (2025-05-12): https://www.erse.pt/media/0mvf005i/er... U.S. Department of Energy, "Hydropower Plants as Black Start Resources (ORNL/SPR-2018/1077)" (2019-05): https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/fil... Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, "Electric Grid Blackstart: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities (PNNL-32773)" (2022-04): https://www.pnnl.gov/main/publication... Federal Power Commission, "Northeast Power Failure, November 9 and 10, 1965: A Report to the President" (1965-12-06): http://web.archive.org/web/2003072807... U.S.-Canada Power System Outage Task Force, "Final Report on the August 14, 2003 Blackout in the United States and Canada: Causes and Recommendations" (2004-04): https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/fil... FERC, NERC and Regional Entity staff, "The February 2021 Cold Weather Outages in Texas and the South Central United States" (2021-11): https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/fi... Australian Energy Market Operator, "Black System South Australia 28 September 2016: Final Report" (2017-03): https://www.aemo.com.au/-/media/files... UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, "Introducing a new 'Electricity System Restoration Standard': policy statement" (2021-04-01): https://www.gov.uk/government/publica... National Energy System Operator (NESO), "Electricity System Restoration Assurance Framework 2025/26" (2025-12): https://www.neso.energy/document/3755... Times in the video are Central European Summer Time (Madrid). #blackout #powergrid #energy #infrastructure #howitworks