António Cotrim / Lusa
The Prime Minister assured today that the government is working to reinforce the ability to “prevent and resilience” from the power grid and insisted on the importance of interconnections with Europe, so that Portugal is not just dependent on Spain.
“It is not yet a time of balance, but I want to assure you that we are already working, namely with REN, to reinforce the capacity for prevention and resilience, in order to avoid repetition Of occurrences like this, ”said Luís Montenegro, in statements to the press, in a balance sheet after the Council of Ministers has been gathered since late morning due to the blackout that affected mainland Portugal since 11:30.
The Prime Minister reiterated that the origin of the blackout was not related to the Portuguese power grid and, since The country has only connection to Spainit presumes me that this is the origin, “related to an abrupt increase in the tension in the Spanish power grid” with still unknown origin.
“We know, however, that It was the increase of this tension which will have triggered the safety mechanisms that led to this blackout. We will serenely evaluate with the Spanish authorities what happened and try to project in the future better response instruments to avoid repetition of this occurrence, ”he said.
On the other hand, said Luís Montenegro, the origin of this blackout It didn’t have to do with the lack of autonomy of the country.
“We have the ability to produce and distribute energybut we have a connection with Spain. When this event happened, it is true that we, for financial reasons, were importing energy from Spain because it was at a more competitive price, but even though it was not the blackout in Spain would have had the same effect, the same consequence in Portugal, ”he said.
For the Prime Minister, what will be important to take care of in the future “is having more developed security mechanisms to prevent such an event from occurring with this impact.”
“There is another reflection that we can take from here: Unlike Spainwhich had the help of the other calls it has, namely with France and Morocco, We are just dependentin a situation of embarrassment, the connection we have to Spain, ”said Montenegro.
“We have been fighting for a long time In the European Union for the reinforcement of interconnections with Europe so we can have greater autonomy, both to receive and to sell energy, ”he said.
The Prime Minister admitted that The hardest to manage in blackout It was the power supply to hospitals, but assured that there was no “boundary situation”.
“The situation that was lived in hospitalsI confess it was harder to manage. With the lack of electric supply generators were triggeredfed to fuel, only the fuel is consuming And it is necessary to feed the deposits again to continue to have operational generators, ”he added.
However, also “the fuel supply chain I was collapsing and it was necessary to do a very strict management. ”
“It was necessary to rely on the program that was centralized in the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority and the unparalleled collaboration of the security forces, which they did and secured patrolling and The conduct of cistern trucks in order to supply the hospitals that were having the need to refuel the diesel that was needed for their generators, ”he explained.
“We had no limit situation in which this supply had been exhausted, but we had to manage situations with some disturbance with transit difficulty, the difficulty of operational management. (…) There were effectively dramatic situations, but they did not have to do with the power supply,” he said.
The Prime Minister also stated that Schools will be able to reopen This Tuesday “if there is no disturbance in the process of refueling” after today’s blackout.
“We see no reason why they cannot open Tomorrow in a normal situation if there is no disturbance in this process of refueling, ”said Luís Montenegro, who spoke to the press at the official residence in São Bento at the end of the Council of Ministers.
The Prime Minister also said he hopes that on Tuesday he will be resumed normality in the distribution of essential goodsmedicines or fuel, appealing to the Portuguese to moderate consumption to the necessary.
