The large power outage that began at 12:33 pm on Monday knocked out the power supply in almost all of Spain and several neighboring countries. The mobile network, airports, local traffic, traffic lights, and shopping centers were temporarily completely shut down.
The last time Sweden was hit by a major power outage with similar consequences was in September 2003. Then, 1.5 million Swedes in southern Sweden were left without power, and several socially critical functions were shut down.
Multiple faults
First, the power production at Oskarshamn's third reactor failed. A few minutes later, a fault occurred in one of the main grid's substations outside Varberg due to the strong wind. This caused two of Ringhals' nuclear power units to be disconnected from the main grid, which made the system collapse.
It was multiple simultaneous faults that occurred within a short time interval, larger than what the system was designed for. And then southern Sweden and parts of Denmark went black, says Erik Ek.
Among other things, traffic on the Öresund Bridge and train traffic in Skåne were stopped. Hospitals in the region and Sturup Airport went on backup power, and industries were shut down. Parts of Denmark were also affected.
The cause of the large Spanish outage is still unknown, but at a press conference on Tuesday, the Spanish electricity company Red Eléctrica's top executive Eduardo Prieto said that several things happened in a short time.
In seconds
First, a power drop was noted, 1.5 seconds later, what was likely a production failure was noted, 3.5 seconds later, a disconnection occurred in the connection between Spain and France, which isolated the Iberian Peninsula from Europe's power grid.
After that, a large disconnection of renewable energy production occurred.
The system could not handle such an extreme disturbance, says Prieto according to Bloomberg.
At Svenska kraftnät, they are of course interested in what happened in Spain.
It will be interesting to see how the disturbance analysis looks. There's no point in speculating, we're waiting for the facts, says Erik Ek.
Beatrice Nordensson/TT
Facts: Large power outages in Sweden
TT
September 2003: The main grid in southern Sweden is shut down. Several million people in Sweden and Denmark are left without power for several afternoon hours.
May 2002: After a tunnel fire in Akalla in northwestern Stockholm, 50,000 people are left without power for several days. The electronics industry in Kista is also severely affected.
January 2001: Heavy wet snow over Svealand and Götaland causes massive power outages. Around 70,000 subscribers are affected, mainly in western Sweden.
December 1999: Three people die and nearly eight million trees are knocked down when a storm hits southern Sweden. At most, 100,000 people are left without power.
November 1995: Over 100,000 people are left without power after a snowstorm hits the Gothenburg area. Neither trains nor road traffic function.
August 1992: Thousands of people are stuck in subway cars and elevators in Stockholm after a power outage during the water festival. Traffic signals that don't function create traffic chaos.
December 1983: Sweden's largest power outage ever is caused by a fire in a transformer station near Enköping. Within 30 seconds, all of southern Sweden and parts of Norrland are without power. A total of several million Swedes are affected, and the costs are estimated to be hundreds of millions of kronor. (TT)
