April 28, 2025. A fault in the French grid rippled south and cut power to most of Spain and Portugal.

ATMs stopped. Petrol stations couldn't pump. Traffic lights went dead. Your phone held a charge for a while, then it didn't. If you had a client call at 10 am, you cancelled it. If you had a deadline, you missed it.

Except it wasn't the same everywhere. Marbella went dark for 6 and a half hours. Fuengirola for seven. Nerja didn't get power back until somewhere between 1:30 am and 3:30 am the next day.

That was supposed to be the once-in-a-generation event. But shorter outages, a few hours here, an afternoon there, aren't uncommon across the Costa. They just don't make international news.

Your professional life runs on infrastructure that wasn't designed for you. This week, we're covering what to do about power. Next week: water and internet.

Most advice says: buy a portable battery, get Starlink, done. That solves a three-hour problem. The real question is whether you can make your household energy-independent on the Costa del Sol.

The answer is yes, and the economics are better than you'd expect.

Cost: EUR 450 to 700. No landlord permission needed.

Spain made plug-and-play balcony solar panels legal in 2023 (confirmed, still current January 2026). Two panels, a micro-inverter, and a standard socket. No electrician, no permits for systems under 800W. IKEA sells a complete 800W kit in Spain for EUR 449. Tornasol Energy and Robinsun make similar setups for EUR 400.

The maths: an 800W balcony kit on the Costa produces roughly 1,500 kWh per year. At current electricity prices, that saves around EUR 450 annually. Payback in about a year. After that, it's free power, and the kit moves with you when you leave.

Pair it with a portable battery station. The EcoFlow Delta 3 Plus (around EUR 1,500, 1.8 kWh, pricing checked January 2026) runs a home office for 4 to 6 hours. The Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 (around EUR 800) handles lighter loads for a similar amount of time. You can find both at MediaMarkt in Plaza Mayor (Málaga) or PcComponentes online, which ships the next day to most Costa del Sol addresses.

Solar charges the battery during the day. Battery runs your office when the grid doesn't. Even when the grid is fine, Spain's time-of-use tariffs charge roughly three times as much during peak hours (10am to 2pm, 6 pm to 10 pm) as during overnight hours. Charge the battery from your panels during the day, or from the grid after midnight, run your office on stored power during peak rates. The battery pays for itself faster when it's saving you money daily, not just during outages. 

Total renter package: EUR 1,250-2,200. Pays for itself within two years through electricity savings alone, faster if you factor in avoided lost billable hours.

Cost: EUR 8,000 to 18,000 before incentives. EUR 4,000 to 6,000 after.

A 5 kW solar array with a 10 kWh battery and hybrid inverter costs EUR 8,000 to 10,000 installed. A larger 10 kW system with 15 to 20 kWh of storage runs EUR 12,000 to 18,000.

But Spain wants you to do this. The IRPF income tax deduction (extended through 31 December 2026) gives you 20 to 60% back depending on energy savings achieved. IBI property tax reductions of up to 50% are available in Málaga city and Fuengirola, though Marbella paused its IBI reductions in 2025. The ICIO construction tax discount can reach 95%.

Payback period on the Costa del Sol: 5 to 6 years. After that, 20-plus years of near-free electricity. One case study published in December 2025 showed 17.7% return on investment in year one.

Why it works so well here: Málaga province gets 2,900 to 3,250 sunshine hours per year, among the highest in Europe. For context, 60% of new solar installations in Spain in 2024 included battery storage. This isn't early-adopter territory anymore. It's mainstream.

Here are a few English-speaking installers on the Costa with verified track records, whom we’ve personally heard good things about:

Marblanc Solar in Marbella (90-plus five-star Google reviews, free drone inspection and 3D performance modeling, marblancsolar.com). Solares Energies with offices in Málaga, Marbella, and Sotogrande (15 years experience, solaresenergies.com). Solar Panels Costa del Sol for Tesla Powerwall installations (solarpanelscostadelsol.com).

Get at least two quotes. Ask specifically about the IRPF deduction paperwork. It requires that the installer handle before-and-after energy efficiency certificates.

At the electronics store:

"¿Tienen estaciones de energía portátiles?" — Do you have portable power stations?

At the solar installer:

"¿Cuál es la deducción del IRPF para paneles solares?" — What's the income tax deduction for solar panels?

The April 2025 blackout wasn't a freak event. It was a preview. The Costa's grid serves residents well enough, but it wasn't designed for households where income depends on uptime.

The people installing solar and batteries now aren't preppers. They're doing it because the maths works. Five to six years’ payback for villa owners. About a year for a renter balcony kit. Less than two lost work sessions for a portable battery.

You live in one of Europe's sunniest regions. It would be strange not to harvest it.

Next week: the other two pillars. Water supply on the Costa is more fragile than you think, and your internet has a single point of failure you probably haven't considered.

Onwards — A. and their batteries are all at 87% WaypointSur team (they just checked)