When the lights go out: Building remote work resilience in a blackout
When the power flipped off, I sighed, as I lost use of my big monitor - everything resized itself in front of me to the laptop screen, and I couldn’t see most of the tabs and apps I had open.
I went downstairs expecting to flip the breaker back on, because actual power cuts are rare, compared to when we first moved here. Local surges which trip something are far from unknown. But we soon confirmed that we were indeed off power, and so were our immediate neighbours. A local cell tower was also presumably affected, as none of us had any phone coverage.
So the best plan looked like an early lunch, in the garden, on a sunny Spring day. Every cloud…
After an hour or so though we were getting twitchier, and wanted to check in with relatives, colleagues, not to mention the local electricity company. We drove down to our local town centre, which also happens to be the emergency services communication and despatch centre for the whole region.
Surely their huge mobile mast would offer signal? But even there was nothing.
So, we thought - the next town. Rather than the city, we headed inland, over the hill… how widespread can this be? But as we passed petrol stations and shopping malls with blank LEDs, it started to become clearer. And when we finally caught a sporadic whiff of 3G some way into the campo, we at last got a glimpse of the whole picture. Not enough power to reply to family overseas concerned for us, but certainly to realise that it was time to dust off that good old 2020 word unprecedented, for a whole new use case today.
All the way home - suddenly glancing anxiously at the fuel gauge - we did the ‘“what if..?” and “what about…?” questions, not to mention a considerable amount of “and wtaf..!?” Aliens? Russians? AI overlords? And how long was it all going to take to fix?
All we could glean flicking between local radio stations in the car was that this was unexpected, no one knew the cause, and no one knew how long it might take to fix - they didn’t seem to know anything more than we did.
We came home via our daughter’s place in the next town, because we had a missed call from her. Luckily she heard us shouting her name through the terrace window, as her front door had an electric entry buzzer system, which should surely not have failed shut. Traffic lights in the town centre were down, but it was quiet and safe on the streets, and the temporary bridge installation over the river introduced as a post-DANA measure had its own solar panels, so that worked fine.
Then we headed home to await other daughter’s return from work in the city. She enterprisingly persuaded a taxi driver going the right way that her parents would have cash to pay him with, but we were embarrassed, because that was just one aspect of our total unpreparedness for anything like this kind of scenario. And then we sat wondering what to do next. Leave the freezer shut and hope for the best, or attempt to barbecue as much of its contents as possible? Figure out some way to jack into the solar panels on our roof, which were connected to the grid, but no local storage - so useless to us?
We were lucky.
Perhaps because of the proximity to that emergency centre, our lights came back on in the early evening, after an outage of 6 or 7 hours. Mobile coverage remained sporadic, even with a global eSim switching and combining signals automatically. And yes, we dashed out and grabbed some cash and a full tank, while sticking everything we owned on to charge. I also ordered a battery operated radio, with back-up crank handle and solar panel, before some profiteering Amazon reseller decided to triple the price on them.
And then at last we were able to check our email, and let remote colleagues know we were back - though of course they were generally better informed than we were, about how the afternoon’s events had unfolded.
Remote Resilience? Not so much!
That was our story. Yesterday’s widespread power cuts across parts of Spain left millions briefly questioning just how connected our lives have become. For many remote workers, it wasn’t just an inconvenience, it was a different kind of wake-up call.
Working from home in Western Europe, whether in a rural village, bustling city, or quiet suburb, often lulls us into a false sense of security. We expect electricity, mobile data, and Wi-Fi to be there when we need them. When they vanish without warning, so too does our ability to work, communicate, and even meet basic needs.
We take for granted a level of infrastructure reliability that few parts of the world can match. Compared to people like my mentee in Eritrea that I have been working with as a volunteer with Na’amal. I was used to his need to reschedule calls frequently due to planned and unplanned load shedding on their local supply, but I never really thought what it must be like to live, and try to work remotely, in these circumstances.
Yesterday’s blackout revealed a few immediate truths.
First, it’s very easy to underestimate the cascading effect of losing both electricity and mobile coverage at the same time. Power cuts happen, but usually mobile networks stay up. When both are gone, our dependency on internet-based tools leaves us extremely vulnerable.
Even those with distributed, professionally managed remote work setups found the limits of their resilience. Cloud-based data storage is excellent until you can’t access it. Internet-first messaging platforms are fast until there is no network. Suddenly, even basic communication becomes a logistical challenge.
I thought about all the consultancy clients I had supported in developing their communications protocols. We always consider emergency escalation plans, for the worst-case scenario - like a major data breach, or key person risk. But did we require everyone to keep that contact conditions list accessible offline, and did it include landlines? Has everyone even got landlines? And would those handsets be powered?
Some tactics worth considering:
Establish offline fallback plans: Include landline phone numbers in your team’s emergency contact lists, and make sure these lists exist outside of cloud storage. And don’t become TOO reliant on apps with no proper offline access mode (yes, I am looking at you, Notion!)
Teams, consider process resilience and backup plans: Use asynchronous working and visible teamwork to collaborate around regional problems. Having distributed colleagues is a positive advantage in such circumstances, but only if uncompleted tasks are clearly visible, and accessible to others, even if not their usual area of responsibility. Something like a payment run or security process that was not done as expected should be flagged to a backup person for attention when they come online, with a delay period dependent on the time-sensitivity of the task in hand.
Use radio as a local communication tool: In some countries, businesses and communities use handheld radios (like walkie-talkies or CB radios) for local coordination. It’s worth exploring if your region supports this, and who you might be able to connect to within your area, and who is in their range, etc. That way a team in the same country could chain communications together over a larger region, to at least be able to check in with each other. Like a phone tree, for when we can’t rely on our phones.
Designate meeting points: For teams living in the same region, setting physical places to meet in case of complete network failure could be life-saving, or at least supportive (with due respect to local emergency services advice, which may well be to stay put, if traffic signals etc., are offline.)
Pre-plan your check-in timelines: Agree ahead of time on how long to wait before escalating if someone can’t be contacted online.
For solo freelancers or small teams, it may be as simple as having a buddy system: someone who knows where you are, and can act if you go quiet during an incident, and/or check in anyway, if no contact happens during an agreed interval. And this applies to any kind of incident - none of us are immune to accidents, crimes, sudden illnesses, or all the things we can’t see coming.
Depending on the criticality of your specific communications, and for further investigation, it’s worth considering satellite communications.
Satellite messengers for emergency communication: Devices like the Garmin inReach Mini 2 and the Spot X 2-Way Satellite Messenger offer reliable, two-way communication via satellite networks, independent of mobile coverage. These tools are invaluable for maintaining contact during power outages or in remote areas without internet access.
European satellite internet alternatives: While Starlink currently dominates the satellite internet space, Europe is developing its own systems:
Eutelsat OneWeb: A Franco-British initiative providing broadband services via a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites.
IRIS²: An EU-backed project aiming to deploy a secure, multi-orbit satellite constellation by 2030, enhancing Europe’s digital sovereignty and offering an alternative to non-European providers.
Further reseach is needed here, and future content will follow. But Incorporating these options into your preparedness plan can bolster resilience against connectivity disruptions.
Remote work where we live
How about the local community? How can we better support the places we have chosen to call home, including vulnerable neighbours, theoretically-adult children?
Obviously our own actions changed once we received the official instruction to stay home, but until then our instinct was to go out and try to find information. When we had the DANA floods in October 2024, emergency notices arrived on our phones via the ES-Alert system, but that of course relies on functional cellular infrastructure to broadcast the messages, even though it bypasses specific networks.
There is not much we can do to build continuity for actually getting remote work done in such circumstances, which are hopefully rare. I say hopefully, because we still don’t have anything resembling a good explanation as to what even happened,
All we can really do is think local, and I know we will be better prepared in future. Some of the thinking we have done during this time will help us be better prepared for whatever comes our way, and for supporting those around us. I literally woke up cold in the night thinking of a friend who relies on a CPAP machine to breathe, and then wondering about another on dialysis… I told myself that these life-critical systems surely had backup batteries and built-in resilience, but the ‘what about..?’ questions continue to land in my brain while nominally awake. I think everyone is a bit dazed and more overwhelmed today.
Overall I was impressed with the community-mindedness of the response I witnessed yesterday. It was a local fiesta here, and many people were not working anyway. Bars stayed open, happy to serve beers before they got too warm, and I know many places gladly ran up tabs when the cash ran out. I saw no panic or disorder, and people were checking on each other and sharing food and resources.
But I couldn’t help wonder what would happen as time went on, and what might change, as it got dark and people got more worried and possibly desperate. In the city centre a demonstration - one has taken place every 28th of the month since the floods 6 months ago - was cancelled, so we were aware of that protest energy having nowhere to go. Some friends of a daughter were caught up in a robbery with threats of violence at a fuel station nearby. Maybe the robbers were desperate to reach a vulnerable relative, or maybe they were exercising power because they could?
So far there seems to be very little crime reported, and few health emergencies. Three members of the same family lost their lives in Galicia due to carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator, someone died in Valencia from an oxygen supply device failure, and there was also death in a fire starting from a candle Madrid - all tragedies I wouldn’t dream of minimising, but it still seems surprisingly few, given the millions impacted. Obviously lots of people spent uncomfortable amounts of time in metros and lifts, but it sounds like most waited patiently and looked after each other, and got to safety without serious problems. This we can be incredibly grateful for - and at the same time, grateful that community spirit was not tested any further, to see just how deep it did or did not run, especially without the constraints of messaging and authority communications to keep things co-ordinated.
To keep ourselves safe at home seems like the best approach, so we can make sure we are at least prepared to do that with relative safety and comfort. Many people think about candles and bottled water when preparing for an emergency, but if you work remotely, your priorities also include the ability to stay informed and maintain minimal communication.
Here are some basics worth keeping on hand:
Battery-powered or hand-crank FM/AM radio: Radio broadcasts often continue during blackouts, and they can provide vital updates when internet and mobile networks are down. Our local stations had little real news, but even a voice in the silence is comfort and connection.
Power banks and solar chargers: A couple of fully charged power banks can keep your phone running for a crucial few hours longer. To repeat, especially for those with teenage offspring around - these need to be actually charged to be of any use, and also kept in a known place.
Local maps and printed contact lists: Physical copies of key contacts and local maps are critical if digital devices become useless. And at the very least ensure you have a digital map synced locally.
Cash and fuel: If card machines are down, you’ll need cash. Similarly, a full tank can make the difference between reaching help or being stranded. There was one petrol station open near us, presumably they had a generator, but they were unable to take card payments, or make change.
Basic food and water supplies: Enough to last at least 72 hours without needing to venture out, or join the panic buying throngs. I thought we were pretty well sorted on this front, but I had honestly given little thought to the kinds of foods which could be eaten without any preparation, so that would have considerably limited our options. It’s a tricky call, because a lot of long-lasting nutritional foods are in a dehydrated state, that usually calls for boiling water.
Candles, torches, and batteries: Simple, but absolutely essential. We should all stash a few more of these where we know we can find them, they don’t have expiry dates.
First aid kit: Even small injuries can become bigger problems if services are disrupted. Just as we bought hand sanitiser, oximeters, etc., 5 years ago, it’s worth thinking through the ‘what if’ scenarios related to emergency services having a major change of priority.
Resilience doesn’t mean preparing for every disaster.
It means being ready to continue living — and ideally working — during unexpected disruptions. And being able to reproritise those things fast when we have to.
Reflecting on our assumptions of stability
European infrastructures are among the most reliable globally, and yet yesterday showed just how fragile modern life can feel when core systems fail.
Remote workers tend to prioritise mobility and digital access. But true independence also means being able to adapt and stay calm when the tech is taken away, even temporarily.
It’s not about embracing survivalism or going “full prepper”. It’s about practical, modest readiness: having a few extra resources, making a few contingency plans, and giving yourself and your team a little more breathing space when the unexpected happens.
Power cuts will come and go. So will blackouts and network failures. A little preparation now ensures that the next time the lights go out, your work — and your life — won’t come grinding to a halt with them.