- Spain and Portugal have been hit by a wide-spread power outage
- Mayor tells residents to stay off roads
- What caused it?
The ongoing Spain power outage is continuing to cause chaos. Parts of Portugal have also been affected.
Shops and restaurants in Madrid are without power, with traffic lights not working in Portugal. Meanwhile, Lisbon and Porto are without their Metro service, while cash points have also been impacted.
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According to officials, restoring the power could take hours. Meanwhile, people are wondering what exactly caused this issue. Some recent information released by Rede Eletrica Nacional (REN), Portugal’s primary energy grid operator could have shed some light on this issue.
As reported on various outlets, REN have stated that these interruptions o the power were caused by a “fault in the Spanish electricity grid.”
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They added that this was linked to a “rare atmospheric phenomenon.” What does that mean? Well, thankfully, they shed some extra light on this unusual occurrence.
“Anomalous oscillations in the very high voltage lines”
REN continued to unpack the potential cause behind this ongoing power outage.
Speaking to the press, they explained that “due to extreme temperature variations in the interior or Spain, there were anomalous oscillations in the very high voltage lines (400 KV), a phenomenon known as ‘induced atmospheric vibration'”
They continued, adding that “These oscillations caused synchronisation failures between the electrical systems, leading to successive disturbances across the interconnected European network.”
At the time of writing, Spain has yet to respond to these suggestions and claims.
Could take as long as a week for power to be restored
Meanwhile, the European Commission has said that it will stay in contact with local Spanish authorities to better understand the exact causes behind these outages.
“The commission will keep monitoring the situation and make sure that there is smooth information exchange,” explained a spokesperson for the EU Commission.
That said, REN continued to hit home how fully restoring the power to Portugal could take as long as a week.
“Due to the complexity of the phenomenon and the need to rebalance electricity flows internationally, it is estimated that full normalisation of the network could take up to a week,” they explained.
