Dramatic power outage: La Palma fights against darkness!

Dramatic power outage: La Palma fights against darkness!

Last Tuesday, the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma experienced a massive power outage that lasted around three hours and left around 82,000 residents without electricity. The outage was caused by a defective generator, as the electricity supplier Endesa announced. The entire island lost power around 5:30 p.m. local time and power was eventually restored. Regional authorities immediately activated an emergency plan to bring the situation under control, reported oe24.

This disruption came at a time when tensions over electricity supply in the Canary Islands are rising. At the end of April there was a widespread power outage throughout Spain and Portugal, which caused massive traffic problems and the failure of telecommunications systems. The situation on La Palma was made even more precarious by this previous event, as the island faced the challenges of emergency response.

Regional crisis management

Regional government authorities responded to the current crisis by taking immediate measures to restore energy supplies. The electricity supplier Endesa informed the public about the breakdown, but there was initially no further information on the exact details of the restoration. The incident stimulates discussion about the stability of the Canary Islands' electricity system.

The power outage on La Palma comes amid concerns about the reliability of the region's energy supply. A similar situation occurred just a few months ago on the neighboring island of La Gomera, where a complete power outage due to a fire at the El Palmar thermal power plant left households without power for over 60 hours. Military personnel were sent to support and generators were mobilized to ensure the operation of critical infrastructure. Endesa rejected any criticism in this context and stated that the power plants used were sufficiently large to cover current needs, reported Costa News.

Calls for reforms

In the wake of repeated outages, local politicians are calling for urgent reforms in the energy sector. The island council president Casimiro Curbelo was critical of the inadequate electricity supply and called for a legal change to strengthen the energy infrastructure in the Canary Islands. It is crucial to gain more skills for the islands in the area of ​​electricity supply in order to be able to better deal with future crises.

The increased discussions about infrastructure improvements and connections to neighboring islands, such as the planned connection of La Gomera and Tenerife via a submarine cable by 2025, show a growing awareness of the need for a stable energy supply in the Canary Islands. These developments could contribute to improving the current unstable situation in the long term.