Monday, November 06, 2006

Caos en Europa por un apagón de luz

The power outage which has been widely reported struck here too in Casares. We were without power for 2 hours on Saturday night. By previous Spanish standards this may not seem unusual, but the management of the network has improved dramatically over the last few years. This is the first power cut we've had in over six months; the last one being caused by thieves nicking copper cable from the local power station - the mind boggles at the risks some people will go to!

Normally I wouldn´t comment on this but a couple of items buried in the news make the case more interesting.

Firstly, why is it that the power network is so sentitive that shutting down a high voltage line across the Ruhr river trips the European grid over half a dozen countries depriving 10 million customers of light and heat?

Secondly, this will do no good to E.ON's bid to take over Endesa - this is exactly the sort of incident that will play into the protectionists' hands. The Spanish government has just (today) lifted the conditions it (illegally) applied to E.ON's bid. Now, all that could be overturned in a fresh round of protectionism.

2 comments:

Lenox said...

Our local Almería provider is Sevillana, which is Endesa under another name. Here in Mojácar, we have had daily mini-cuts (just enough to blow your TV and computer), plus a mini-surge (click-CLAck)more or less for the past eighteen months. The local director told me that it was birds taking off from their lines en masse (in the middle of the night... when it's raining... when there's too many airconditioners... when there's no better reason...).
The other reason is because the company has wanted to build new overhead pylons across the views of three local towns and has received stiff protest against it.
Roll on the E.ON!!

granny p said...

That was something we didn't get. Just as well - we have enough. There isn't enough power for this island - far too much goes on water desalination (about 40% ot total use); which could be done with windpower, and would be less needed if they continued to make alijibes whenever they build a house. Meantime more tourist beds add to the demand yearly. (They'll spend money on those... as for the rest.)

And - and finally I got round to putting you on my blogroll. Sorry it's taken so long.