The lack of interconnections with the rest of Europe puts Portugal isolated and at risk of suffering more from blackouts like the one that happened on April 28.
Portugal is the most vulnerable European country to Shorts, along with Spain, due to the lack of international electricity connections, according to a study by British ‘Think Tank’, focused on the study of energy transition.
Although the study puts the two countries on an equal foot, the truth is that Portugal recovered from the Iberian blackout later than Spain, which had the advantage of restarting its power grid with the help of France and Morocco.
“The Iberian Peninsula is more vulnerable to the risk of blackout than any other European country due to limited connections to the continental network. After blackout, Portugal and Spain appealed to the EU to support new interconnection projects, citing the need for stronger connections to prevent future disruptions,” according to the document.
The data show that the electrical interconnection between the Iberian Peninsula and France is only 3%, still far from the goals of 10% and 15% to 2020 and 2030, representing a systemic risk to the remaining European energy system.
Alias, in the Basque country there are reports that the blackout on April 28 was very soon (15 minutes) with French electricity to help the recovery quickly from northern Spain for the rest of the peninsula. Portugal, on the other hand, spent a good hours waiting for Spanish electricity, with the help of only two Black-Start centers, the natural gas center in Gondomar, and the Castelo de Bode water center in Tomar.
Portugal took the four -time time Spain to start with the electrical system restart mechanism (known as black-start) After the Iberian blackout on April 28, according to the preliminary report of the European Association that brings together the management companies of the Electricity Transport Network (Entso-E).
If Spain managed to start with its centers in black-start An hour after the blackout, Portugal took almost four hours to get off with the first central and almost five hours to start with the second central. In the face of Spain’s start, it was almost 3 hours to the first center and almost four hours to the second central. The Spaniards had the help of interconnections in this task, unlike Portugal.
Recalling ‘Blackout’, the ‘Think Tank’ British points out that it was the “largest blackout in the history of modern Europe” with over 60 million people to be in the ‘dark’ for hours.
“Multiple causes caused the incident” which originated in Spain and the final report of the European operators (Entso-E) will be released in October.
“What is right right now is that the interconnections were essential to restore the Iberian electrical system. Only 10 minutes after the blackout, the first Spain-France line was energized, followed by Morocco interconnection and other calls with France. With the help of gas and water units, the total restoration of Spain took place at 4:00 am on April 29, 16 hours after the incident.”
The Study Center points out that 3 Slops in the EU have been “avoided or managed” thanks to interconnections in the last 5 years.
In Europe, 55% of the electrical system has limited electricity import capabilities, “increasing the risk of spaghetdles”. Embber points out that Spain, Ireland and Finland are “particularly exposed”, which can be joined by Portugal because it is even more isolated, with “little available support from neighbors in case of incidents on the network”.
On the other hand, the report points out that Ukraine and Moldova would have suffered serious electricity losses “due to Russian aggression”, if it were not for interconnections with EU countries.
Nine recent cases of sabotaged infrastructures in the Baltic Sea highlight the “need to protect the infrastructure from European interconnections”.
For Pawel Czyzak, director of Embber, the European energy infrastructure is “under attack, with the Russian hybrid guerrilla campaign to climb every day.” Interconnections are the “backbone of energy security” and the “expansion and safety of networks needs to be treated as a vital element of protecting European society from attacks.”
Already Isabelle Dupraz, director of European Initiative for Energy Security, argues that the increase in renewable energy should be accompanied by “investment in network modernization to ensure large scale electrification, reinforcing the autonomous strategy of Europe and to energize its modern economy.”
Portugal wants Brussels to press France for interconnections to advance
Electricity interconnections between the Iberian Peninsula and France must no longer be an exclusive theme from Portugal and Spain, becoming a question of the European Union.
The governments of Portugal and Spain sent a letter to the European Commission at the end of May requesting that the Iberian interconnections will be considered strategic to leverage the project. After the Iberian blackout of April 28, Lisbon and Madrid joined efforts to put the theme on the agenda and overthrow Emmanuel Macron’s intransigence.
Lisbon and Madrid are working for the theme “to be considered a European issue, because it is a issue of the European and domestic electricity market. If there is something that is seen as a barrier to the domestic market, the European Commission will not hesitate to send us a letter of warning, and we expect the same attitude towards France,” added Maria da Graça Carvalho in the written letter on May 28.
“It is essential to reiterate that it is imperative to act decisively,” they say in the letter intended for the European Commissioner for Energy, Dan Judgesen.
The two ministers mention that they are contacting the European Commission again to reiterate the appeal for a renewed political momentum, taking advantage of the current and future legal frame, especially in the context of the future network package. “The completion of electrical interconnections in the Iberian Peninsula is no longer an option: it is to share responsibility for the energy future of Europe,” they say.
Also the Portuguese Association of Renewable Energies (learned) has already argued that blackout should be viewed as an “opportunity to reinforce Europe’s resilience and energy sovereignty, avoiding dependence on fossil fuel exporting countries”. And it wants the “reinforcement of electrical interconnections between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe, especially with France, to ensure greater robustness and balance of the electrical system.”
Lisbon and Madrid propose a meeting with the European Commissioner to discuss the issue, as well as a ministerial meeting in 2025, so that, together with France and Brussels, specific goals and dates are set in line with European goals in the coming decades.
The ministers argue that the lack of integration of electrical networks “restricts the total exploitation of renewable potential in southwest Europe, increases electricity prices, undermines supply safety and reduces the collective ability to actually respond to crises or disruption in energy markets.”
“We appeal again to the European Commission to give an urgent priority to the conclusion of these critical infrastructures,” referring to the two interconnections via pyrenees that were included in the list of European priority projects in 2021. “A firm political and financial commitment is necessary at all levels to ensure the effective integration of the Iberian Peninsula into the European energy system,” they add.
