APG CEO: Blackout in Spain Was Felt as Far as Austria
It was "noticeable to us like a major power plant failure," said Christiner. At the time of the network collapse, Spain was exporting 800 megawatts (MW) of electricity. "When Spain then experienced the blackout, these 800 megawatts were missing from the system. However, this was very well compensated by the rest of Europe. This led to a small drop in frequency because there was too little power, but the reserve capacities that existed in the rest of Europe were able to compensate," explained Christiner.
"Residual Risk Always Exists"
The APG head pointed out that a power grid is a "highly complex technical system" and a failure can therefore never be completely ruled out. "A residual risk always exists, although we consider it to be very, very low." The cause of why the entire network collapsed on the Iberian Peninsula at noon on Monday is still unclear. There is also speculation about a rare weather phenomenon. The Portuguese electricity supplier REN explained that the power outages were due to extreme temperature fluctuations in the interior of Spain. This triggered "induced atmospheric vibrations" in the 400-kilovolt high-voltage lines.
Christiner said that the reasons for power outages are usually technical defects, overloads of power lines, or sometimes human error. But "since the cause is still not clear, we would not rule anything out," said the APG head. "In this case, what our information shows so far is that everything happened really very, very quickly, in the millisecond to second range, this power grid de facto collapsed. And that is also somewhat surprising for all of us, and it is now very, very difficult to find the exact cause immediately."
Power Outage in Spain Was Noticeable in Austria According to APG Head
In a power grid, generation and consumption must be permanently in balance, and fluctuations must be compensated for in the second range. "If there are divergences here, such as a line failing that is currently important, or a power plant failing, or several power plants failing simultaneously, then this leads to this imbalance, and then it is precisely the question of how quickly such a situation can be regulated again. Each country already has reserve capacities ready, and something must have happened in Spain where these reserve capacities may no longer have been sufficient to stabilize the system. And if that is no longer possible, then it really happens in the second range, where the system then collapses," said Christiner.
(APA/Red)
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