It began like any other day—but ended in total darkness. On April 28, 2025, the lights went out across Spain and Portugal. Not just a flicker—a complete collapse. Ten hours of silence, confusion, and fear. No lights, no internet, no communication. It was a chilling reminder of how fragile our modern world has become—and why the EU’s blind obsession with the “Green Deal” might just be digging its own grave.
A False Sense of Security
For years, Spain and Portugal were paraded as green energy poster children. Eighty percent of their electricity came from renewables—until the entire system failed. The irony? It wasn’t a lack of energy that caused the crash, but too much. Sun and wind flooded the grid with power, and without enough interconnectors or infrastructure to handle the load, everything broke.
Across the EU, the same pattern is playing out. Billions have been poured into wind farms and solar panels, yet the grids meant to carry this energy were designed in the 1950s and 60s. Outdated, overstressed, and unfit for today’s volatile supply. When Angela Merkel launched Germany’s energy transition over a decade ago, her government dreamed up thousands of kilometers of “electricity highways”—but never built them. Today, those dreams are crashing into black reality.
Green Fantasies, Black Realities
Germany—once a technological powerhouse—is now the EU’s largest CO₂ emitter. Why? Because when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow, the backup is coal. Not clean, not efficient, just old and dirty.
This Easter, renewables in Germany failed to deliver. Offshore wind dropped 31%, onshore 22%. The result? A surge in coal, oil, and gas use. Germany’s electricity became dirtier than it’s been since 2018. On sunny days, the grid couldn’t handle the glut of solar energy—15 gigawatts too much, the equivalent of a dozen nuclear reactors. Prices turned negative, and Germany had to pay France and Belgium to take the power off their hands.
And still, blackouts struck.
Systemic Collapse Is Coming
This is no longer theory. The European grid is a house of cards—one overload away from a domino collapse across 30+ countries. In Spain, a single surge sent ripples through the network. Experts warn more interconnectors may not save us; they could actually spread failure even faster. A cyberattack wasn’t to blame this time—but the real threat might be far scarier: our own recklessness.
Siemens: From Powerhouse to Disaster
Siemens, once a global energy titan, abandoned its nuclear division and dove headfirst into wind. After merging with Spain’s Gamesa, things unraveled fast. The wind division bled money, stock plummeted, and confidence collapsed. Germany’s bet on wind is backfiring—and they may not recover.
Meanwhile, emergency services in Spain and Portugal stayed online only because of diesel generators. That’s right—the villain of the climate movement saved lives. Hospitals ran. Surgeries continued. But for millions, phones died, screens went black, and silence reigned.
What Happens When It All Goes Dark?
This isn’t fiction. Marc Elsberg’s 2012 novel Blackout imagined a 13-day power failure. Society unravels. Now, Europe inches closer to that nightmare with every sunny, windless day. In Austria, we once planned for such scenarios: local “islands of infrastructure,” military buildings stocked with food, water, and diesel. Today? Those leaders are gone. And with them, the plans that might save us.
A Lesson from Lebanon
I lived in Lebanon until 2023, where daily blackouts are the norm. People adapt—buy generators, help neighbors, get creative. But can you run a European economy like this? Can you manufacture cars, power hospitals, keep factories humming on hope and sunshine?
The EU cut ties with Russian gas—its most stable backup. It chased ideology over infrastructure. Now, it’s facing the consequences: deindustrialization, rising emissions, and grid collapse. One day, when the EU comes crawling back for Russian gas, there may be nothing left to power.
Final Warning
This blackout was not an outlier. It’s a glimpse into the dark, chaotic future we’re rushing toward under the banner of “green energy.” Without reliable grids, realistic timelines, and non-ideological planning, more cities will go dark. More economies will grind to a halt. And the price will be paid not in euros—but in lives.
Has Europe gone too far down the rabbit hole to come back?
About the Author
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