Current wedge. Photo source: Antonio Guillem | Dreamstime.com
The largest current in Europe in the last 20 years, in the Iberian Peninsula, has triggered hours of chaos for people in Spain, Portugal and some parts of France earlier this week. As a result of this event, there was a common question for the governments of the whole continent: could the same thing happen here?, Writes The Guardian.
Political leaders and operators of energy systems in Europe have given assurances that such power feathers are extremely rare and that European energy networks are among the most stable in the world.
However, energy experts have warned that although large -scale power feathers can be rare, no network is infallible. Professor Jianzhong Wu, director of the School of Engineering at Cardiff University, told The Guardian that
Current feathers “can happen anywhere,” Professor Jianzhong Wu told The Guardian at Cardiff University.
“Despite the high standards of current reliability, however, high -probability, but high impact, these networks are not desired to be completely devoid of current interruptions, because reaching such a reliability level would require investments far beyond what is economic,” said Jianzhong Wu.
For his part, Charmalee Jayamaha, a senior manager at Energy Systems Catapult, a company supported by the British government, said that “no system can be 100% safe”, so the risks “must be balanced with our willingness to reduce them.”
Reasons why an energy system might collapse
Major collapses of energy systems are frequently caused by difficult factors to provide or control.
Extreme meteorological phenomena and natural disasters present a clear risk, because storms, heat waves and earthquakes can lead to devastating damage to critical national infrastructure. Also, lightning and sun rashes can damage vital equipment, such as electrical lines, which are crucial to maintain the stability of the network.
In the US state of Texas, a series of three winter storms since the beginning of 2021 caused the freezing of wind parks and gas power stations, leaving 4.5 million houses without electricity.
Some current feathers are entirely caused by humans. Jayamaha said that geopolitical factors and cyber attacks have the potential to cause “major interruptions” of the network. Human error could also play a role.
The risk of a cyber attack on the infrastructure of the electrical network “is not science fiction”, according to the Dutch expert in Cyber Security Dave Maasland. He referred to Russia's attacks on the Ukraine's energy system in 2015 and 2016 and an attempted attempt after his 2022 invasion.
There may also be network failures. A current wedge can be caused by unexpected mechanical faults involving electrical lines or other network infrastructures.
