I Watched Our Grid Fail. The Blackout in the Czech Republic Was a Warning for All of Europe - And a Call to Action for Installers

As the Country Manager for Emaldo in the Czech Republic, I’ve spent my career focused on our nation's energy future. But on July 4th, that future felt unnervingly fragile. When a high-voltage line failed and plunged one million of my fellow citizens into darkness, it was more than a professional concern; it was personal. I heard the reports of people trapped in elevators and saw the disruption firsthand. This event, right here at home, was a dramatic confirmation of what we at Emaldo have been preparing for: our aging grid is not resilient enough.  

This isn't just a Czech problem. The catastrophic blackout across Spain and Portugal just a few months earlier, which left 50 million people without power, proves this is a continent-wide crisis, and as Europe increasingly looks to electrification for travel and heat the risk is that this crisis only deepens.

For my fellow professionals in the installation trade, these headlines represent a fundamental shift. Our customers are waking up to this new reality, and they will be looking to us for answers. This is our moment to lead.

A System on the Brink: Why This is Our New Normal

From my perspective here in Prague, the July 4th blackout was a textbook example of systemic failure. A single technical failure on transmission line V411 cascaded through the system because the grid is stretched to its limit. This isn't an isolated case; it's a symptom of much larger issues facing the entire European network:

• Aging Infrastructure: Across Europe, over 70% of our transmission lines are past 40 years of age, making them vulnerable to failure.
• The Paradox of Progress: Our necessary push toward renewable energy brings instability. The variable nature of wind and solar lacks the stabilizing inertia of older power plants, making the grid more susceptible to shocks.
• Critical Underinvestment: The investment needed to secure our future is over €1 trillion by 2030, a figure the IEA warns we are nowhere near meeting with current annual investments.

The conclusion is inescapable: the grid's stability is no longer something we or our customers can take for granted.

The Installers Opportunity: Turning Client Risk into Business Resilience

When I speak with business owners, their biggest fear is downtime. An outage isn't an inconvenience; it's a direct hit to the bottom line. It means lost production, spoiled goods, and broken contracts. The Iberian blackout, for example, forced factories to shut down and caused widespread business interruptions.

But it’s more than money. It's about safety and responsibility. The 215 elevator entrapments during our blackout were a stark reminder of our duty to protect people. Hospitals, data centres, manufacturing plants, and even residential homes have a fundamental need for continuous power. The question is no longer if they need backup power, but which solution is robust and reliable enough for the job. This shift in customer demand is an installer’s golden  opportunity.

More Than a Product: A Partnership for a Secure Future

This is why I joined Emaldo. We are not just selling products; we are providing energy security. Our KeepON™ Power Backup Kit was engineered for moments exactly like the ones we’ve just witnessed.

It offers the seamless, millisecond-fast activation that modern life requires, automatically providing power to connected loads during an outage. When combined with our Emaldo® Power Core or Power Store systems, you can deliver a formidable 10,800VA of AC rated power in a complete, AI-driven energy management solution.

When you install the KeepON™ kit, you aren't just a contractor; you become the trusted expert who provides genuine energy security—a reputation that wins referrals and higher-margin projects.

More importantly, we see our installers as true partners. We’ve built the Emaldo® Power Suite, an online platform that streamlines your entire workflow, from creating client quotes to remote system monitoring and fleet management. My goal is to ensure that partnering with Emaldo is the best decision you can make for your business's growth and efficiency.

A Call to Action for My Fellow Professionals

The projections are clear. Here in the Czech Republic, we could face a Loss of Load Expectation (LOLE) of 1,085 hours by 2030. The choice is simple: we can either wait for the next crisis, or we can build a greener and more resilient future for our customers and communities today.

I am looking for dedicated installation partners who see this challenge for what it is: the single greatest opportunity in our industry for the next decade. 

Join me. Become an Emaldo partner and let's lead this change together.

Click here to learn more about becoming an Emaldo Partner.