Expert: Blackouts Will Happen, Limiting Their Spread Is Important

Major power outages will happen. It is impossible to completely prevent them. It is more important to limit their spread and quickly restore power supply - emphasized Dr. Eng. Bartosz Brusiłowicz from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology in an interview with PAP.

A huge power outage, or blackout, occurred on Monday in Spain and Portugal. The power outage paralyzed traffic, grounded planes, stopped trains, and trapped many people in elevators and metro cars. Hospitals were operating in emergency mode. On Tuesday, electricity supplies stabilized, but the effects of the outage were felt in the following days. The exact cause of the outage is unknown.

Dr. Eng. Bartosz Brusiłowicz from the Department of Power Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Wrocław University of Science and Technology indicated that the probable cause of the blackout on the Iberian Peninsula was the shutdown of one of the very important 400 kV high-voltage lines for the local power transmission system.

"It is not known what caused the shutdown. It could have been a short circuit, it could have been some mechanical damage, or it could have been caused by an already developing failure," he said.

The scientist noted that one of the widespread hypotheses is that the cause of the failure could have been renewable sources (photovoltaic and wind), which, according to experts, are more difficult to control in the energy system.

"But, interestingly, the share of renewable energy in the Spanish system on the day of the failure was about 60% - wind turbines and photovoltaics. In Poland at the same time, this share was 66%, and in our country there was no failure," indicated Dr. Brusiłowicz.

The expert emphasized that major power failures may occur in Poland and Europe.

"The energy system consists of thousands of interconnected devices, hundreds of thousands of kilometers of lines that can fail. So let's not talk about whether a blackout can happen, but how to prepare for it and limit its spread - this is the most important aspect of this issue," the scientist said.

Dr. Brusiłowicz pointed out that the example of the blackout on the Iberian Peninsula showed that systems preventing the spread of failures are in place in Europe.

"Let us remember that the energy systems in European countries are interconnected, and yet the failure did not spread because the Spanish system was quickly disconnected from the French one," he said.

The expert emphasized that one of the key elements of the energy system, thanks to which it can be quickly restored to operation after a blackout, is an extensive transmission network.

"If suddenly, as in Spain, a high-voltage line is switched off, the energy that was transmitted by it starts to be transmitted by other lines. In a situation where the remaining lines are already used close to their capacity limits and more loads are added to them, then avalanche-like switching offs begin - this is a classic blackout," the expert explained.

He pointed out that the simplest solution to avoid such a failure is to build and modernize as many transmission lines and power stations as possible.

"They will simply provide different routes for energy," he added. (PAP)

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