Mercadona's Plan B, El Corte Inglés and Inditex that allowed them to 'survive' the blackout

The European Network of Electricity Transport Network Managers (ENTSO-E) has announced the creation of a committee of experts to investigate the causes of the “exceptional and serious incident” that caused an electrical blackout in Spain and Portugal last Monday.

The day Spain and Portugal ran out of electricity, along with hospitals, other infra-structures and critical services, highlighted the resilience of distribution giants such as El Corte Inglés, Mercadona, Alcampo or Inditex who maintained their activity and a large part (in some cases the whole) of their open commercial network to serve the citizenry. One of the reasons behind this continuity is to have their own generators, to avoid a possible …

Tourist operators are not alarmed by the blackout that left the Iberian Peninsula without power supply for several hours last Monday, although they do show interest in knowing its causes, according to Turespaña’s CEO Miguel Sanz. Furthermore, no serious incident has been reported that has affected international travelers. “I have not had communications that have conveyed to me a concern for the future or stability of their operations in Spain,” …

With Carmen Morodo, Gabriel Sanz and Chema Crespo.

The power outage could hit Spain's GDP by around 0.5% this quarter. Scenarios for the incident

Members will prepare a comprehensive technical analysis and make recommendations in a final report The government commission investigating the blackout will request additional data from companies in the sector