European electric networks have undergone two energy oscillations about 30 minutes before the large blackout on the peninsula | Economy
The search for European electricity network managers (ETSO-E, for its acronym in English has begun). This Friday the organization that groups them has designated the group of experts who will be responsible for the investigations, which will be led by the Austrian Klaus Kaschnitz and the Hungarian Richard Balog. In the description of the previous facts At Blackout, it happened on Monday 28 April at 12.33 minutesThe managers of the network are distinguished that an hour before there were two oscillations “of power and frequency in the European system, in the main area of continental Europe”, providing some elements so far unknown.
The two oscillations described by the Ento-E declaration were between 12.03 and 12.07, according to the time of the Iberian peninsula and 12.19 and 12.21, explains the declaration issued this Friday. Door, “at the time of the accident, there were no oscillations and the variables of the electrical system were within the normal operating interval”, underline the managers of the network. “Before the accident, the Spain international exchange programs were 1,000 MW with France, 2,000 MW with Portugal and 800 MW with Morocco, all in the exporter”, detail.
About 30 minutes after the beginning of the first oscillation, the serious problem began in Spain, not in Portugal, although the problem extended later: “From 12:32:57 and in the following 20 seconds, a series of generation shooting in southern Spain were presumably recorded, for a totally estimated total of 2,200 MW. In Portugal and France.
From that moment on, a sequence of facts began which ended the collapse of the Iberian electrical system. “As soon as the interruption of the electricity offer occurred, the managers of the network concerned worked together in a coordinated effort to restore the offer in the interested region of France (south of the country), as well as in Spain and Portugal.”
This sequence does not exceed the description category. The former president of Red Eléctric de España, Luis Atzia, explains to this newspaper that the manager’s declaration does not clarify the doubts about the “cause of the oscillations to the loss of generation”. Nor, it adds, so that the mechanisms in the system did not work so that with partial blackouts the loss of generation can be compensated without reaching the collapse.
The enumeration of the facts continues to explain the process of restoring the electricity grid in the peninsula, which began by The restoration of the connection between Spain and France at 12 and 44 minutes. From here began a recovery process that ended at four in the morning with “the complete restoration of the network transmission process in Spain”.
Two searches
In addition to the sequence of what has happened, the organization that brings together the managers of European networks such as Eléctric de España Rossa explains that “the research will be divided into two phases”. “Firstly, he will collect and analyze all the data available on the accident to reconstruct the events of April 28 and determine the causes of the Blackout. These conclusions will be completed and published in a factual relationship,” he says. As explained by the spokespersons of the European Commission, this first part should be ready in half a year.
“In the second phase, the panel (of experts) will establish the recommendations that help to prevent similar accidents in the future, which will be published as a final report”, explains the declaration, in which it is not specified how long it can request.
The designation of two experts who guide the group, one from Austria and another from Hungary, outside the countries involved in the Great Blackout (Spain, Portugal and France) complies with what the European Commission has announced the day after the agitation.
The immediate preceding one to what happened in Spain and Portugal on April 28 was the partial blackout of June 21 last year several countries of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro). This event was not as serious as that of the Iberian peninsula. However, there was also a panel of entons-e experts created on July 15, 2024, less than a month after the partial blackout. Now there is no two weeks to create that team.
The final report was published on February 24, eight months after the accident. The cause of the problem were two first short circuits caused by “the vegetation that approached the power lines too much”. Therefore, one of the main recommendations was also “reviewing the procedure for the control of the growth of vegetation” to “guarantee adequate pruning” as “crucial element to avoid short circuits and maintain a safe and reliable electrical network”. The Commission has not yet pronounced, since it is still studying the conclusions.
