The research of European electrical networks (ETSO-E, for its acronym in English) has started. This Friday the organization that groups them has designated the group of experts who will be in charge of the investigation, which will be led by the Austrian Klaus Kaschnitz and the Hungarian Richard Balog. In the description of facts before the blackout, it happened on Monday, April 28 at 12.33 minutes, the network managers stand out that there were two oscillations “of power and frequency in the European system, in the main areas of continental Europe”, providing some elements so far unknown.
The two oscillations described by the Entso-E statement were between 12.03 and 12.07 noon, according to the time of the Iberian Peninsula, and 12.19 and 12.21, explains the statement released this Friday. Porteriorly, “at the time of the incident, there were no oscillations and the variables of the electrical system were within the normal functioning range,” the network managers point out. “Before the incident, Spain’s international exchange programs were 1,000 MW with France, 2,000 MW with Portugal and 800 MW with Morocco, all of them in the exporter,” he details.
About 30 minutes after the first oscillation began, the serious problem began in Spain, not in Portugal, although later the problem extended: “From 12:32:57 and in the following 20 seconds, a series of different generation shooting in southern Spain were presumably recorded, for a total initially estimated total of 2,200 MW. In Portugal and France concrete facts.
From that moment on, a sequence of facts began that ended the collapse of the electric Iberian system. “As soon as the interruption of the electricity supply occurred, the affected network managers worked together in a coordinated effort to restore the supply in the affected region of France [al sur del país]as well as in Spain and Portugal. ”
This sequence does not pass the description category. The former president of Red Eléctrica de España, Luis Atienza, explains to this newspaper that the manager’s statement does not clarify the doubts about “the cause of oscillations as of the loss of generation”. Nor, he adds, why 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 facts continues to explain the process of restoration of the electricity network 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 phases research
In addition to the sequence of what happened, the organization that groups the managers of European networks as a Red Eléctrica de España explains that “the research will be divided into two phases.” “In the first place, it will collect and analyze all the available data on the incident to rebuild the events of April 28 and determine the causes of the blackout. These conclusions will be completed and published in a factual report,” he says. As explained by the spokesmen of the European commission, this first part should be ready in half a year.
“In the second phase, the panel [de expertos] It will establish the recommendations that help prevent similar incidents in the future, which will be published as a final report, ”explains the statement, in which it is not specified how long it can take.
The designation of two experts who lead the group, one from Austria and another from Hungary, outside the countries involved in the great blackout (Spain, Portugal and France) conforms to what the European Commission announced the day after the shaking.
The immediate precedent to what happened in Spain and Portugal on April 28 was the partial blackout of June 21 of 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 an Entso-E expert panel that was created on July 15, 2024, less than a month after the partial blackout. Now it has not taken two weeks to create that team.
The final report was published on February 24, eight months after the incident. The cause of the problem were two first short circuits caused by “the vegetation that grew too close to the power lines.” Therefore, one of the main recommendations was also “to review the procedure for the control of vegetation growth” to “guarantee adequate pruning” as a “crucial element to avoid short circuits and maintain a safe and reliable electrical grid.” The commission has not yet pronounced, since it is still studying the conclusions.
