When The Lights Go Out

I came across the news about the massive blackout in Spain and Portugal recently. Whole regions went dark. Trains stopped. Some people even died. It really made me wonder what would happen if something like that hit Malaysia.

So I started looking into it. I was curious if anything similar had ever happened in my own country. That’s when I found out about the 1996 blackout. This thing was definitely the most infamous one in Malaysia’s history. It’s the one that really shook the country because of how wide and long it lasted. One power line near Bangi failed, and it caused a chain reaction that took down almost the entire grid in Peninsular Malaysia. Places like KL, Johor, and Penang were without power for hours. All from one single failure.

What’s wild is that the recent case in Spain and Portugal happened in a much more advanced system. Their grid is modern, full of solar energy, and still—everything collapsed. Some say it was a strange weather event, others think it could be a cyberattack or a technical fault. No one knows for sure yet.

It’s kind of scary how both old systems and new systems can fail so suddenly. In 1996, Malaysia’s grid was too centralized. Now, newer grids might be too complex for their own good.

If something like this were to happen again in Malaysia, are we ready? Honestly, I’m not sure.

Just something I’ve been thinking about.