There can be new blackout: how can Portugal avoid it?

The biggest blackout in history is over: chain was replaced to 100% – but Portugal is not unless to get dark again.

Light at the bottom of the tunnel, after noon in the darkness. The network service is fully reset and standardized, the E-Redes electricity distribution operator confirmed.

The reconnection of the network was made cascade (high, medium and low voltage) and it was possible to recover faster the supply of energy “the result of the network’s integrated management at various levels of voltage.

In turn, REN-National Energy Nets also ensured that the energy network is “perfectly stabilized” and that just before 23:30 on Monday had already been replaced all substations.

But REN also warns that this “absolutely exceptional event” of external origin, which affected all consumers in Portugal, It can repeat itself.

There may be new blackout

At midnight on Monday, energy had already been partially restored to about 6.2 million customers, with 424 substations to operate and 3,200 MW to circulate on the network. But Ren warned that new imbalances could compromise the progress achieved and force a Return to Estaca Zero.

The energy is answer, but “we cannot take any false step.” It’s like the electrical condition we have at homeexplained the REN administrator, João Conceição.

“If we have a short circuit, the circuit breakers shoot. But if we put it up and do nothing else, it is very likely to continue to fire. So we have to test the appliances until we have stability in the electrical circuit. What we are doing is exactly the same, but to a national scale,” the responsible.

The scenario of uncertainty is aggravated by the fact that it is not yet known what happened for sure.

At the source of instability was the momentary dependence of Portugal from Spain, especially solar, which represented about one third of national consumption at the time of the incident – but Ren has said that this Dependence was not the direct cause of the blackout.

“The Portuguese system is not dependent on external energy. We will seek energy from Spain for economic reasons. But there is a question that we cannot escape, which is the fact that we are peripheral. Spain, for example, has managed to recover his consumption in the border zone because France exported electricity,” he explained.

But Portugal could only turn to Spain… who was also in the dark. “The country could be fully supplied with 100% Portuguese energy that would have happened exactly the same“Said Conceição.

How to avoid it?

One of the solutions pointed out by the experts passes through reinforcement of electrical interconnections with the rest of Europeto reduce Spanish dependence.

Another measure would be to invest in centrals that guarantee immediate response capacity, such as gas centralthat can be activated quickly in emergency situations. This Monday, were the replacement centers of those of the tapada of the hill and the castle of goat that saved the day, although it was still insufficient.

“For a long time” that Portugal “fights in the European Union for the reinforcement of interconnections with Europe,” said the prime minister this Monday.

A digitization of the system is another point to improve.

O increased production of renewable energy and storageespecially solar, it is vital to reduce the dependence on external sources and reinforce energy autonomy – Portugal still has delay in the neighboring Spain in this area.

But “More recovery systems mean more costs”warns João Conceição, quoted by: “Today, everyone will say that it is more than justified. But in a while, we will be more concerned with the cost of the electricity account.”

The executive is already “working, namely with REN, to reinforce the capacity for prevention and resilience, in order to avoid the repetition of occurrences such as this,” said Luís Montenegro.