“Just like bigger failure” – Blackout also sweating Austria

According to APG boss Gerhard Christiner, Spain exported 800 Megawatts (MW) from electricity to Austria at the time of the network that collapsed

“When Spain was in the blackout, these 800 megawatts were missing in the system. And that was very well balanced by the rest of Europe. This led to a small waste of the frequency because there was too few achievements, but the regular reserves that existed in the rest of Europe could compensate,” said Christiner on Tuesday “.

“There is always remaining risk”
The APG boss pointed out that a power grid is a “very complex technical system” and that such a failure in Austria cannot be completely excluded. “There is always a residual risk, although we consider it very, very low.” In any case, a failure of a power plant would not be a problem with the delivery.

In the specific case on the Iberian Peninsula, the operators of the European transmission system act quickly to prevent the disaster. “If there is a large -scale condition, the network connections are separated and the affected country are stabilized in the island operation,” said Christian Schirmer from Nö.

Spanish network operator: Cyber ​​Attack is currently excluded
The reason why the entire network collapsed on the Iberian Peninsula on Monday is still unclear. A cyber attack is currently excluded. A rare weather phenomenon is also speculated. The Portuguese electricity supplier Ren said that the power errors were due to extreme temperature fluctuations in the interior of Spain. This caused “induced atmospheric vibrations” in the 400 Kilovolt high -voltage lines.

Christiner added that the reasons for power errors are usually technical disorders, overloading of electricity lines or sometimes human error. But “after the cause is still not clear, we would not exclude anything,” said the APG boss.

Pictures of Black -Out in Spain and Portugal:

“Austria prepared for a large -scale condition”
According to the Christinian, Austria is prepared for the large -scale disorder and the power supply can resume independently, even when they are disconnected. In the case of a large -scale power error, so -called Black Start -Up -Power plants are crucial. These power plants can start independently without external food. Further systems are then gradually switched on until the entire power grid is stable. Austria has various black start -Up Power factories such as the Kaprun Pumped Storage Power Plant in Salzburg.

APG operates the National High -Spage Network in the federal territory. This network consists of almost 7000 kilometers of high -voltage lines that provide Austria of electrical energy. Regional network operators such as the Wiener Netze or Netz Nö are then responsible for local distribution. The most important energy source is hydropower, but in recent years, according to the APG, wind energy and photovoltaïschens have also been greatly expanded. The security of the delivery is therefore 99.99 percent.