Post-blackout in Spain and Portugal, companies count the cost
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As Spain and Portugal recovered from a major blackout, businesses began assessing the economic toll. Spain’s main business lobby, CEOE, estimated that the power outage would reduce GDP by 0.1%, or roughly €1.6 billion. Oil refineries could take over a week to fully restart, while some industrial ovens were damaged beyond repair.
The meat industry alone reported potential losses of up to €190 million due to failed refrigeration. The blackout lasted over 12 hours in parts of Spain, disrupting not only production but also retail operations. Most supermarkets reopened on Tuesday, but were still evaluating spoiled stock and losses from disrupted card payments and ATM outages, according to the retail association ANGED.
Volkswagen’s plant in Navarra, employing 4,600 people, lost production of 1,400 cars before resuming operations Tuesday afternoon. SEAT’s Barcelona factory, with around 14,000 workers, was still not back to full capacity by Tuesday morning.
While the tourism sector emerged relatively unscathed, the telecom outage created challenges. Hotels sheltered guests and even supported public agencies with emergency accommodations.
Some companies, like Thune Eureka, acted quickly. Their IT head’s experience with Venezuela’s grid helped predict a long outage, allowing swift decisions such as sending staff home early.
