GERMANY: A routine safety operation in Germany may have been to blame for a massive power cut across Europe

A massive power outage temporarily plunged millions of homes across western Europe into darkness overnight, and initial findings suggested a routine safety operation in Germany may have been to blame. The impact of the power cuts at around 2130 GMT on Saturday (November 5) night was felt in heavily populated areas of Germany, France and Italy, as well as parts of Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria, and even extended as far as Morocco. German utility E.ON said on Sunday (November 5) reports of the cuts began to emerge not long after it shut down a high voltage line over a river in northwestern Germany to let a ship pass through in safety, and that this may have been linked to the power loss. "The fact is that the splitting of the network, there was an area producing less than was needed, and that was the case in the whole of western Europe, and so many countries contributed to generating this imbalance, and so in many countries the pre-programmed automatic mechanism, caused power to be cut off from certain clients all at the same time, in order to get the balance back," said the Chief Executive of E.ON Networks Martin Fuchs. "In the past, these operations were often performed without any problems arising," he said, adding that the precise cause behind the loss in supply was still being investigated. The cruise liner itself had also been affected, having to return to the port it had just left during the power outage for safety reasons - but to the pleasure of the hundreds of spectators who turned out to watch. The cuts prompted German government calls for an immediate explanation into the causes and renewed demands from top politicians for a shake-up of Europe's troubled energy policy. The E.ON spokesman said that because electricity was supplied on a shared network, the loss in power had spilled over into other areas. The spokesman said more than one million people in the RWE Rhein Ruhr network were probably affected, including inhabitants in the cities of Cologne, Essen and Gelsenkirchen. A spokesman for a French union said the outage, which hit areas right across southern and western Germany, was the worst in France in 30 years. Some European train services were disrupted, but there were no reports of any major damage. French media estimated some five million people were affected, while authorities in Germany said at least one million were left with no electricity. The cuts, most of which lasted for less than an hour, was also widespread in northern Italy. Bitter disputes surrounding mergers -- including E.ON's efforts to buy its Spanish rival Endesa -- have hampered efforts by the European Union to formulate a collective energy policy. Spanish electricity grid operator Red Electrica de Espana reported that parts of Spain and Portugal suffered power cuts which it said was caused by a problem in Germany. In Spain, the fall in tension caused 2,800 megawatts of wind energy and one gas-fired power station to be cut off and interrupted the flow of electricity to Morocco, it added. German national rail operator Deutsche Bahn said more than 100 mostly regional train services were disrupted. Belgian news agency Belga said some 11 municipalities in the country suffered power loss and that some trains were delayed. Maurice Marion, head of France's CGT trade unions mining and energy division, said the outage was France's worst in 30 years and had hit the eastern part of the country in particular. Austrian Power Grid AG, a subsidiary of Austrian utility Verbund, said in a statement Europe had had a lucky escape.

ITN Source | November 6, 2006

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