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Associated Press
7 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
How Leading Elevator Companies Respond When the Power Goes Out
When the power went out around noon on April 28, Otis mechanic Julio César was conducting an inspection in a Madrid office building. The generator turned on, and he continued working. He thought it was a local issue. Then the building's maintenance manager informed him of the magnitude of the event: All power, and nearly all cellphone service, was out across Spain and Portugal. They didn't know it at the time, but the outage would last about 10 hours – and up to 16 hours in some areas. Julio César immediately completed his inspection and went to check the other units on his route to make sure no one was trapped. He prioritized nursing homes and the smaller buildings that he knew did not have backup generators. 'I went to the places first where I knew there might be more vulnerable people,' he said. Julio César is just one of hundreds of Otis field colleagues in Spain and Portugal who rallied to support people stranded in elevators when the power went out – and later, when power was restored, worked to get elevators back up and running. Their response was immediate and thorough: In the hours following the historic outage, mechanics worked with public authorities to visit every unit on their routes to ensure there were no entrapments, and rescuing people who were. OTISLINE customer service teams provided immediate support to those who were connected. Then, when power was restored, they set to work getting all elevators back up and running. Consider these figures: Spain has the most elevators per resident in the European Union, with almost 1.3 million elevators total, according to the Spanish Elevator Federation. They estimate that 10,000 entrapped passengers were freed on April 28. Here's what happens at Otis when the power goes out: Going above their normal call to help others Otis mechanics freed people trapped in elevators that were not their responsibility – elevators that are not part of the Otis service portfolio. Xavier, an Otis salesman who used to be a mechanic, freed two women in their 90s in the minutes after the blackout started. One mechanic walked more than 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) to help as many trapped passengers as possible. Colleagues who were not scheduled to work went to the offices to see how they could help. Those who were working voluntarily worked another shift when transit issues meant some second-shift workers didn't make it into the office or call center. Mechanics accompanied firefighters to perform rescues. Some Otis colleagues took people with mobility issues into their homes. When the power came back By April 29, once entrapments were addressed and power was restored, Otis experts turned quickly to making sure all Otis units were back online and working. This too required a round-the-clock response from field colleagues. Some mechanics had accumulated more than 25 calls by 9 a.m. Service was again augmented by extending shifts, and tapping people on their scheduled day off who showed up at the call centers, aware of the workload. It wasn't until late on April 30 that the crisis was over. Otis had zero calls on hold. 'Through their actions and professionalism, our colleagues in Spain and Portugal exemplified the core values of our company and demonstrated how to put our mission into action,' said Enrique Miñarro Viseras, President of Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. 'Thank you for your resilience, teamwork and unwavering focus on our customers and passengers. Your skills were in high demand and your empathy was evident as you navigated complex situations, provided reassurances and supported everyone affected. We are so proud of all you have done.' Preparing for next time In Spain and Portugal, the power outage lasted approximately 10 hours and up to 16 hours in some locations. Nuno Correia, a field supervisor in Portugal with 35 years of Otis experience, said he had never experienced anything like this. 'I only remember a two-hour power outage in Lisbon 20 years ago, but never a time when communications were down,' Correia said. After the initial nervousness of trying to restore communications, his technicians prioritized helping the factories they service, which were operating at full capacity at the time of the blackout. While Otis has crisis preparedness plans in place for events like this, each one provides opportunities to learn and improve for the next time, with a focus on the Otis value of safety, and dedication to Otis' mission to be a world-class, customer-centric, service-oriented company. What to do if you're stuck in an elevator Importantly, when an elevator stops working, because of a power cut or other reason, passengers are safe inside of the elevator cabin. If communications systems are working, they will have access to an emergency call center. However, if the telecommunications network fails before the signal is activated, passengers must wait in the cabin until an emergency release system is activated, power is restored, or a technician arrives to rescue them. Some elevators are equipped with an emergency lighting system designed to last at least 1 hour. This emergency lighting is activated automatically as soon as the power supply fails. Depending upon local regulations, elevators may also have an external alarm bell, designed to alert building occupants of an entrapment. In some countries, Otis businesses are certified to the ISO 22301 standard, which assesses the quality of a company's processes for providing emergency assistance in the event of a blackout. In addition, post-blackout, Otis has received numerous calls from customers inquiring about products designed to reduce the risk of entrapments in a power cut, including a battery-powered emergency release system, and elevators capable of running on battery and solar power in the event of a power disruption. These Gen2 Switch elevators are currently available in Spain and Portugal. Customers with them reported gratitude that they mitigated the effects of the power outage on their buildings. About Otis Otis is the world's leading elevator and escalator manufacturing, installation and service company. We move 2.4 billion people a day and maintain approximately 2.4 million customer units worldwide, the industry's largest Service portfolio. Headquarters in Connecticut, USA, Otis is 72,000 people strong, including 44,000 field professionals, all committed to manufacturing, installing and maintaining products to meet the diverse needs of our customers and passengers in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. For more information, visit and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook @OtisElevatorCo. Visit 3BL Media to see more multimedia and stories from Otis Worldwide Corporation
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Spain's socialist authorities ‘were experimenting with how far they could push reliance on renewable energy' before country suffered huge power blackout
Spanish authorities had been experimenting with how far they could push their reliance on renewable energy before the Iberian Peninsula suffered a massive power outage last month, it has been suggested. As people wait for answers about what caused the dystopian power cut that disrupted tens of millions of lives across Spain and Portugal, several have questioned Spain's heavy reliance on renewable energy sources as it plans to phase out nuclear reactors. Spain's socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has rejected such criticism, asking for patience while the government investigates the causes of the historic blackout. Now, it has been suggested that Spain's government was carrying out an experiment before the country's grid system crashed, The Telegraph reports. Under said test, authorities had been trialling how far they could push their reliance on renewables as they prepared for Spain's phase-out of nuclear reactors from 2027. At the time of the outage, Spain's electric grid operator Red Eléctrica de España said the blackout had been cause by two significant interruptions in power. The Spanish Association of Electrical Energy Companies (Aelec), which has criticised the inquiry into the blackout's cause, said it was not the country's generators that failed to deliver power to the grid, but rather it was the grid that failed to manage it and then shut down automatically. The head of Spain's photovoltaic association, Jose Donoso, had made a similar suggestion earlier this month, telling newsoutlet 20Minutos: 'It's a matter of logic; the fact that the entire system goes down because of a photovoltaic plant makes no sense.' 'We suffered the consequences of a grid disruption, but we didn't cause it.' But Aelec has said the authorities had essentially confined the trial to a 20-second span on April 28, and ignored a series of oscillations in tension that began days earlier and surpassed 'emergency' levels across the peninsula for two hours leading up to the blackout. The voltage spiked from the normal 220 kilovolts (kV) to extremes of 250kV, which triggered safety shutdowns as a result. Aelec added that the authorities did not substantiate their claim that it all began with a sudden drop of 2.2 gigawatts in power supplied to the grid, which they claim set off the chain reaction. It comes after the sweeping power outage that hit Spain and Portugal last month raised questions about the electricity grid in a region not normally known for blackouts. The outage, said to be one of the worst ever in Europe, started on the afternoon of April 28 and lasted through nightfall, affecting tens of millions of people across the European Peninsula. It disrupted businesses, hospitals, transit systems, cellular networks and other critical infrastructure. Spain generated nearly 57% of its electricity in 2024 from renewable energy sources like wind, hydropower and solar, according to Red Eléctrica, the country's grid operator. About 20% came from nuclear power plants. In 2019, Sánchez's government approved a plan to decommission the country's remaining nuclear reactors between 2027 and 2035 as it expands its share of renewable energy even further. The country aims to generate 81% of its electricity by 2030 from renewable sources.
Phone Arena
21-05-2025
- Phone Arena
All telecom providers in Spain suffer from a widespread outage
Some weeks ago, all eyes were on Spain and Portugal: it was unbelievable that in 2025, two major European countries could experience a total power blackout for 18 hours. The outage affected millions, halted trains and flights, forced businesses to close, and much more. Now, Spain has been experiencing a widespread phone network failure and disrupted communications early Tuesday, disabling emergency lines in much of the country for several hours. The disruption affected all major telecom providers, including Movistar, Orange, Vodafone, Digimobil, and O2. According to the monitoring site DownDetector, the blackout began around 5 a.m., leaving customers unable to make phone calls, send or receive text messages, or access mobile of service loss quickly spread nationwide, with users in major cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Valencia, Seville, Murcia, and Bilbao describing total blackouts and signal loss. Internet issues were also widespread, adding to the impact. Millions were affected. | Image by PhoneArena Telefónica, one of Spain's largest telecom companies, stated that the outage resulted from planned maintenance work. The company explained that the network upgrade unexpectedly affected fixed communication services, including landlines and internet connections. Many users also found themselves unable to reach the national emergency number, 112. In response to the service disruption, emergency departments in Valencia, Aragón, and the Basque Country took to social media to share alternative mobile numbers for emergency contact. Authorities in Catalonia and Extremadura confirmed their 112 services were impacted but assured the public that backup systems had been implemented. In Andalusia, officials acknowledged a national issue with the emergency network, though they reported that service was gradually late morning, Telefónica announced that full service had been restored. Spain's minister for digital transformation, Óscar López, confirmed the resolution and expressed gratitude for the company's prompt response. He stated that authorities had been in contact with Telefónica from the outset and noted that the incident had been resolved entirely. With over 41 million users, Telefónica operates nearly all of Spain's landline infrastructure. DownDetector also recorded a sharp rise in outage reports early Tuesday across other major providers like Movistar, O2, and Orange.
Russia Today
20-05-2025
- Russia Today
Spain hit by telecom disruption weeks after major blackout
Spain has been hit by a widespread communications outage, just weeks after a major power blackout affected the entire Iberian Peninsula. The network failure occurred due to an update by the telecommunications company Telefonica, which disrupted emergency services, landlines, and internet. The outage, which began early Tuesday, affected regions including Madrid, Catalonia, Valencia, Andalusia, Aragon, and the Basque Country. In several areas, access to the 112 emergency hotline was interrupted, prompting the local authorities to provide alternative contact numbers for emergency services. Telefonica, Spain's largest telecom provider, confirmed that it did 'some network upgrade work which has affected some companies' fixed communication services (voice and internet).' The company said the affected systems were isolated and service teams were deployed to restore operations. According to Telefonica, the origin of these problems stemmed from the network upgrade work, and access to services was 'fully restored' by 12:30pm. The Ministry for Digital Transformation said it was in contact with Telefonica throughout the day and requested a detailed report on the incident. The disruption comes less than a month after a widespread power outage struck Spain and Portugal on April 28, affecting transport networks, telecommunications, and public infrastructure. The cause of the blackout is still under investigation, though preliminary assessments suggest a voltage anomaly led to automatic safety disconnections. On Tuesday, Spanish Energy Minister Sara Aagesen said Madrid found no evidence that the blackout was caused by a cyberattack on power generation control centers.
Reuters
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
No sign of cyberattack on power generation control centres during Spain blackout
MADRID, May 20 (Reuters) - Spain has found no indication of a cyberattack on power generation control centres during the massive power outage that hit the country and neighbouring Portugal on April 28, Energy Minister Sara Aagesen said on Tuesday. The investigation team looking into the causes of the blackout has not ruled out entirely a cyberattack at other levels, she said in an interview with radio station Onda Cero. Aagesen had said last week there was no cyberattack on the country's grid operator Red Electrica ( opens new tab.
