The European Commission: “There is no reason to believe that the blackout was due to renewables” | Economy | EUROtoday

More than every week after the blackout that paralyzed and plunged the Iberian Peninsula in chaos, the European Commission asks for warning whereas investigating the causes of the huge electrical energy. The power commissioner, Dan Jorgensen, stated Tuesday that “it is too early to say what were the real causes” of the best incident of those traits “in decades.” “There is no reason to believe that it was due to renewables,” he answered questions from the press.

It is time to research the causes and the European Commission is “closely following the matter.” “He is also willing to help with our experts,” the commissioner has provided. “Obviously, internal investigations are being carried out in the two countries, but there will also be an independent analysis,” he added.

The European Network of Electricity Transportation Network Managers (ETSO-E) plans a analysis protocol in case of incidents comparable to this, which is able to produce a factual report inside six months and one other with suggestions. The investigations shall be led by a supervisor of the electrical transport community (TSO) of a member state that’s unbiased, that’s, it’s not concerned within the incident. This will work hand in hand with the TSO of the affected or interconnected international locations: Red Eléctrica, the Spanish supervisor, and the Portuguese Ren (Nacionais power networks), along with the French RTE.

For now, Jorgesen has confused that “there is no reason” in charge renewables, very questioned from the huge electrical energy minimize. “You can mention many countries with a high level of renewable energies in the energy mix that have many, much less minutes of blackout per year than other countries” with much less presence of this sort of power, stated the commissioner. “But today’s main message is that, of course, we hope with the conclusions of the evaluations and we hope that some recommendations also include,” he insisted.

Jorgesen, who belongs to the European Social Democratic household, has congratulated the governments of Spain and Portugal for the administration of the disaster. “[Ha sido] The worst blackout in decades and is obviously a very difficult situation, ”said the commissioner at the press conference at the headquarters of the European Parliament in Strasbourg in which he has presented the plan to cut all dependence on European energy sources.

The commissioner has declined to enter the debate about whether one of the conclusions of the blackout is that nuclear energy is more stable and reliable than renewables. The nuclear is an issue that corresponds to decide national governments, has settled.

Aagesen: “It just isn’t an issue of dimensioning”

The blackout that left the Iberian Peninsula without light for 10 hours on Monday, April 28 is going to the political arena. The third vice president and minister for ecological transition and demographic challenge, Sara Aagesen, denied Tuesday that the electric zero may be “to an issue of dimensioning” of the network, since the demand at that time was 25 gigawatts hour (GWh) when the system has supported peaks above 45 GWh.

During the control session to the government in the Senate, Aagesen said: “We will discover the causes, we’ll put the options and know the obligations.” And he stressed: “We are going to investigate all doable choices within the system operation”, without ruling out that it could be an event linked to a cyber attack. “Not even the best specialists within the discipline know the causes,” he defended while explaining that he closed the door to speculate on what motivated the blackout of a week ago, and said that the electrical system is now working in reinforced situations of both operation security and cybersecurity and digital systems.

Sources from the ecological transition ensure that Red Electrica has taken reinforced security measures to ensure that an incident such as Monday, April 28 does not occur. Reinforced security, they explain, consists of greater diversification, more territorial locations and give more entry to the energy of the combined cycles. Even so, he specifies, renewable technologies are still in percentages of more than 70%. “We can not put the trigger in renewables,” insists the same sources, which add that reinforced security measures will be maintained until the causes of the energy incident will know.

“To cease being obtainable a expertise doesn’t result in zero”

The third vice president carried the criticisms that the Executive is receiving when the causes of the blackout are still unknown. Therefore, he described as “irresponsible” the fact that some senators “imagine they already know the causes and supply the options.” In that sense, he stressed: “I can’t switch both speculation or conjectures to Spanish residents.”

Aagesen pointed out that the European Commission gives a period of six months to system operators to issue a report on the causes of an incident of that magnitude. “With whole certainty we’ll know what the causes are and we’ll put the options in order that it doesn’t occur once more within the nation,” he reiterated.

While investigations advance to clarify the reason for the blackout, criticism of the government for the lack of explanations about the origin. Ministry sources explain that as soon as they have a certainty, however small, they will explain it. Each certainty that allows an action, they say, will be addressed and communicated. In any case they highlight: “We will see how far you may go. An investigation is extraordinarily difficult.” The same sources have reflected on whether the ruling has been due to a concatenation of errors and conclude that the event is of such magnitude and complexity that it is still necessary to study it well: “That a era ceases to be obtainable doesn’t result in zero. Generation parks have fallen and nothing has occurred. It must be one thing extra advanced.”