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Portuguese authorities on Monday announced a raft of measures to strengthen the country’s electricity system following the April 28 blackout that left most of Spain and Portugal without power for several hours.
They include 137 million euros ($159 million dollars) of investments in the country’s electricity grid, increasing the number of ‘black start’ power stations and reinforcing critical infrastructure such as hospitals with solar panels and batteries.
Environment and Energy Minister Maria Graça Carvalho said the plan would ensure that the Iberian nation of 10.6 million is better prepared for future emergencies.
“We will be in a better position to manage the crisis and minimize its consequences,” Carvalho said.
The Iberian outage started shortly after 11:30 a.m. in Portugal and 12:30 p.m. in Spain and lasted through nightfall, disrupting businesses, transit systems, cellular networks, Internet connectivity and other critical infrastructure.
In just five seconds, Spain lost 15 gigawatts of electricity — or about 60% of its supply. Portugal, whose grid is connected to Spain’s, also went down. Only the countries’ island territories were spared. Power was fully restored in both countries the next morning.
Spanish authorities in June said an investigation found that the country’s electric grid was unable to handle a surge in voltage, which triggered small grid failures in the south of Spain that cascaded into larger ones. The chain reaction eventually brought down the electric system in the two Iberian nations.
Authorities didn’t explain what caused the initial voltage surge.
Other measures under review include a possible interconnection between Portugal and Morocco. Interconnections are high voltage transmission lines that link the electricity systems of different countries, allowing cross-border power exchanges.
Spain’s interconnections with Morocco and France were critical to restoring power after the April blackout.
Portuguese authorities said they would increase the number of power stations with autonomous restart capability from two to four. The black start power stations helped Portugal restore its power independently from Spain after the blackout.
Authorities said they would spend 25 million euros ($29 million) to reinforce back-up energy sources such as solar panels and batteries at hospitals and other critical infrastructure.
An independent panel of European Union experts is investigating what caused the blackout. A preliminary report published earlier this month reached similar conclusions to the Spanish investigation — that an unusual series of voltage surges in Spain and a cascading series of electricity disconnections likely triggered the event.
A final report is due in October.
___ Naishadham reported from Madrid.