2025-04-29 03:08:00
The causes of the massive rupture of electricity that hit Spain and Portugal on Monday 28 April are not yet known, but the investigations are going well. This break in the offer is an opportunity to take stock of the electricity grid and its strong interconnections that explain that in France part of the south -ovest of the country has been affected.
Published on: 04/29/2025 – 05:08Modified: 29/04/2025 – 12:07
3 min
From the Iberian Peninsula to the Baltic countries, all the power plants must work at the same speed to produce uniform frequency throughout the European network. This frequency of 50 Hertz is the cornerstone of this very fine operation.
If the production exceeds consumption, the frequency increases; If consumption exceeds production, frequency decreases. A too large imbalance can lead to automatic cuts in electrical power plants. This is what happened in Spain and Portugal on Monday 28 April.
” This bond of the 50 Hertz is truly “sizing” in all processes. Basically, it is a bit like if I were on a thread of the ridge: a little too much and fall next to it, a little too requested and fall on the other. […] And if you fall, the one from behind falls, then it’s the whole rope “Explains Sylvain Cognet Dauphin, an electricity analyst at S&P.
READ ALSOSpain and Portugal affected by a huge electricity failure
” Domino effect “
The general manager of Voltolis, Mathieu Bineau indicates the difficulties inherent in the functioning of the European network: ” Since all systems are interconnected with each other, if you have a problem in a place – a line in difficulty that must be stopped, a climatic owner, etc. – The energy produced must pass elsewhere. But if the rest of the pipes is too small, we satiate the system, it pours elsewhere, the system is saturated and therefore you have a domino effect. This is undoubtedly what happened at the level of the Iberian peninsula ».
” The countries are united with each other, which is witnessing the United States since this allows, in both directions, to help each other in the face of consumption or production peaks, each country does not have them at the same time. Everyone is, in turn, an exporter and importer “, Mathieu Bineau continues. But” The difficulty of Spain is that, since it is a peninsula, there are not many lines that connect it to the rest of Europe, and it is therefore less protected in the face of this type of danger than continental Europe Adds.
This blackout is not the first in Europe. In November 2006, An accident in Germany They had caused a few seconds that 15 million Europeans were deprived of the current. Outside the interconnected European network, the United Kingdom also experienced a large cut in August 2019. A storm in a wind farm at sea had made the Dmeris network, unable to immediately compensate for this autumn in production.
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