Latest news with #AVE
Forbes
02-05-2025
- Forbes
Iberian Blackout: Electrify Everything—and Have A Backup
People get off a stopped high-speed AVE train near Cordoba on April 28, 2025, during a massive power ... More cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France. (Photo by JAVIER SORIANO / AFP) (Photo by JAVIER SORIANO/AFP via Getty Images) When the lights went out across large swaths of the Iberian Peninsula this week, the effects were swift and strange. Guests at high-end hotels couldn't get into their rooms—not because the staff had vanished, but because the keycards didn't work. In hostels, where old-fashioned brass keys still hang behind the front desk, the night went on more or less as usual. Toilets in some places refused to flush, kitchens in others went cold. No warm food, no coffee. A true European tragedy. Yet those with gas stovetops were still able to serve up hot meals. 'We had no internet for most of the day. Power came back at around 9 pm in Madrid. Everyone was out on the streets, listening to battery-powered radios!' said Kelly Delaney, an energy expert vacationing in Spain at the time. 'Hotels couldn't check us in with no computers and no way to set up electronic key cards, and we had to scramble and find a hostel that used traditional keys. I have never thought about keys. Maybe some things should not be linked to electricity.' As the blackout dragged on for hours, Spaniards did what Spaniards do: they took to the streets. There was music, there were impromptu fiestas. In a country with a long tradition of resilience, the spirit stayed high even as the grid stayed down. But this event offers a glimpse into a larger truth: running the grid of the future—especially one powered increasingly by renewable energy—is not going to be seamless. There will be hiccups. And when everything is electrified, those hiccups hit harder. History reminds us that even the brightest minds can trip the switch. In 1965, Thomas Edison's former company, by then Consolidated Edison, was at the center of a cascading failure that plunged 30 million people in the northeastern U.S. into darkness. The blackout wasn't caused by malicious actors or massive storms—but by a faulty relay. Even high-tech systems are only as resilient as their weakest link. Look to South Africa for a more persistent warning. The country's grid struggles are not due to a lack of renewables or fossil fuels per se, but mismanagement. South Africans endured an average of 3.71 hours of load-shedding per day in 2023. When things fall apart, it's not always the energy mix that's to blame—it's how you run the system. Electrifying everything is still one of the fastest and cheapest ways to cut emissions, especially when the power comes from clean sources. According to the International Energy Agency, electrification of transport and heating could reduce global CO₂ emissions by nearly 4 gigatons per year by 2050. That's the equivalent of eliminating the emissions of the entire European Union. Still, some sectors—heavy industry, aviation—remain stubbornly hard to electrify. There is no silver bullet and running the grid on volatile renewables will have its challenges. In addition to improving how we manage the grid, which was focus of most analyses to date, there are also shades of gray in deciding what should be electrified. While hospitals and military bases usually have backup power, many everyday tools that once worked manually now rely entirely on electricity. For example, Tesla, for all its high-tech wizardry, still includes a manual door release in its cars. In a pinch, you can always get out. Contrast that with the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack in 2021. The pipeline couldn't operate because the control systems were offline—systems that, not so long ago, could be run manually. This isn't just a technical issue—it's an economic one. Maintaining manual options costs money. Do hotels need a physical master key for every door? Should we keep horses in the barn just in case there is another oil embargo? If your system works 100% of the time, redundancy seems wasteful. But in a world of cyber threats, blackouts, and system overloads, we're beginning to see that resilience matters. The silver lining? We're having this conversation now. We're learning from Iberia, from South Africa, and from many other electric grids around the world. Electrify everything—but leave a hatch open, just in case. In energy, as in life, it's always wise to have a backup plan.
Gulf Today
28-04-2025
- Climate
- Gulf Today
Massive blackout disrupts flights, subway trains in Spain and Portugal
A massive blackout brought much of Spain and Portugal to a standstill on Monday, halting subway trains, cutting phone service and shutting down traffic lights and ATM machines for the 50 million people who live across the Iberian Peninsula. The power cut also disrupted air traffic, affecting flights to and from Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon, European air traffic organisation Eurocontrol said. The organisation said it was still too early to say how many flights would be affected. Utility operators sought to restore the grid but Spanish electricity transmission operator Red Eléctrica said the outage, the cause of which was not immediately known, could last from six to 10 hours. Officials said the possibility that it was caused by a cyber attack had not been ruled out. The outage caused chaos in parts of Portugal and Spain as traffic lights stopped working, causing gridlock. A view of empty hospital emergency beds at a hospital during a power outage which hit large parts of Spain, in Barcelona. Reuters Transport networks were halted, hospitals were left without power and people were trapped in the metro and in elevators. In Madrid, hundreds of people stood in the streets outside office buildings and there was a heavy police presence around some important buildings, with officers directing traffic as well as driving along central atriums with lights. People leave the Atocha train station in Madrid after its closure as a massive power outage hits Spain. AFP The Spanish and Portuguese governments met to discuss the outage, which also briefly affected parts of France, and a crisis committee was set up in Spain, sources familiar with the situation said. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited electricity transmission operator Red Eléctrica's control centre. "The government is working to determine the origin and impact of this incident and is dedicating all resources to resolve it as soon as possible," the Spanish government said. Passengers stand next to a stopped RENFE high-speed AVE train near Cordoba during a massive power cut. AFP Red Electrica said it was working with regional energy companies to restore power. Portuguese utility REN said it had activated plans for the phased restoration of the electricity supply. POWER CUT INTERRUPTS PLAY AT MADRID OPEN Play at the Madrid Open tennis tournament was suspended, forcing 15th seed Grigor Dimitrov and British opponent Jacob Fearnley off the court as scoreboards went dark and overhead cameras lost power. The European Commission said it was in contact with the authorities in Spain and Portugal and the European network of transmission system operators ENTSO-E to try to establish the cause of the outage. GRIDLOCK Power outages on this scale are rare in Europe. In 2003 a problem with a hydroelectric power line between Italy and Switzerland caused a major outage across the whole Italian peninsula for around 12 hours. In Madrid, the air was filled with the sound of police sirens and helicopters clattered overhead. The towering Torre Emperador skyscraper in the Spanish capital was evacuated via stairs. Worried people tried desperately to reach their children's schools as the cell signal came and went. Customers buy gas bottles in a petrol station during a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula. AFP In a video posted on X, Madridi Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida urged the capital's residents to minimise all travel and stay at their current locations if possible. Airports reported delays. AENA, which manages 46 airports in Spain, reported flight delays around the country. Portugal's airport operator ANA said airports activated emergency generators which for now allows essential airport operations to be maintained at Porto and Faro airports. "In Lisbon, operations are ongoing but with limitations. So far, there have been no impacts on Madeira and Azores airports," it said. Agencies
Euronews
03-04-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Seat reservations on Spanish trains just got easier for Interrail and Eurail passholders
ADVERTISEMENT Interrail and Eurail passholders rejoice, as you can now skip the queues and reserve your seats on long- and medium-distance RENFE trains online. Rail Europe , a European train booking platform, has expanded its offering to include trains operated by Spain's state-owned railway, eliminating a major hurdle that has dogged rail passholders for years. 'The addition of RENFE's passholder fares to our platform is a game-changer for travellers eager to explore Spain with ease,' says Jürgen Witte, Chief Product and Technology Officer of Rail Europe. 'This enhancement ensures Interrail and Eurail Global Pass holders can navigate its world-class rail system seamlessly.' With the new service, passholders can easily see if a seat reservation is required for their journey and what the associated costs will be. From there, they can make their reservation online, eliminating the need for time-consuming in-person bookings where a lack of Spanish language skills is sometimes an issue. What's the problem with booking RENFE seats with a rail pass? While many Interrail and Eurail trains don't require seat reservations, Spanish high-speed trains - the Alta Velocidad Española (AVE) - do. Although Interrail purports to allow bookings on some AVE trains via its self-service system, users report extensive issues in getting the platform to work. Some trains available on Interrail/Eurail are not bookable via the self-service system at all. Previously, the only option to secure a seat reservation without buying a ticket on a RENFE high-speed train was to call the company. The traveller would then have to go to a RENFE station to pick up and pay for the reservation within 72 hours of booking, which is often not convenient. 'In Spain, almost all trains, apart from purely suburban ones, require a reservation, and RENFE's own website doesn't offer passholder reservations,' explains train travel expert Mark Smith, who runs the website The Man in Seat 61 . 'Furthermore, Spanish trains can leave fully booked, so you ideally need to book ahead. This was a major issue for using an Interrail or Eurail pass in Spain .' Smith warns that, particularly on peak travel days, such as Fridays and Saturdays in the summer months, queues can be atrocious. At major stations in Madrid and Barcelona, passengers can wait as long as one or two hours to be served. The complexity has caused confusion and frustration among travellers. On the Eurail forum, one user said, 'Not gonna jump through hoops to go to Spain. I'll cancel the Spain leg and stay in France.' Seat reservations are required on the Spanish AVE trains. Ricard Codina via Flickr Related What would a single-ticket booking system mean for your next European train adventure? The European tube: Inside the project to launch a continent-wide rail system How to book seat reservations with RENFE To reserve a seat on a RENFE high-speed AVE train, simply head to the Rail Europe website . Click 'add rail pass' below the journey planner and select the type and class of pass you hold. Then, you can search for a journey as normal, but you should only see the passholder reservation costs rather than the normal ticket costs. Smith notes that the Rail Europe system defaults to a second-class reservation in the search results. Holders of first-class passes need to manually change the price drop-down if they want to reserve a first-class seat. ADVERTISEMENT There are other options for booking seats on RENFE with a pass. These include using Dutch agency HappyRail, which has proven to be successful at booking seats on AVE trains, but charges a 3.5 per cent fee. Interrail and Eurail reservation services have been available since 2023, but success is patchy. Smith notes that, when the systems do work, they allow booking in first or second class, but not in the 'premium' class that gets passholders Sala Club lounge access and a meal with wine included on AVE and Euromed trains. Smith has long recommended Rail Europe as a booking service for Interrail and Eurail passholders, as it has more seat choices, more benefits for first-class passholders, and no booking fees. 'This is a big step forward,' says Smith, 'and if one system won't get you the reservation you want, try the other.' ADVERTISEMENT Related What my Interrail trip across Europe taught me about the past, present and future of train travel Be flexible, pack light and bring a spork: Top tips for Interrailing in Europe Where can you travel with RENFE? RENFE operates a comprehensive route network across Spain, with both its AVE (high-speed) and Larga Distancia (long-distance) trains. On the map below, the purple lines are AVE trains, and the grey lines are the slower long-distance routes . The operator offers connections throughout Spain and into France and Portugal. RENFE As well as travelling within Spain, RENFE connects to several international destinations. These include Oporto in Portugal and several destinations in France . From 23 April, RENFE will launch a new direct Seville-Barcelona train service, cutting out the transfer in Madrid and making it easier to get between the two popular cities. Along the way, it stops in Córdoba, Puertollano, Ciudad Real, Madrid, Zaragoza, Lleida, Tarragona, and Girona , which are all attractive destinations to visit, too. The high-speed service takes around six hours and is set to make travel between the south and northeast of Spain a much more convenient option. ADVERTISEMENT
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
New high-speed train will allow for exciting international connections: 'Flexibility to boost travel'
Commuters around the world swear by high-speed rail — trains that can get you from one location to another efficiently and at great speeds. These fast trains are hugely popular in places such as China, Japan, France, and Germany. Access to this climate-conscious mode of transportation is also being expanded in Spain. Officials there recently announced plans to grow their high-speed rail network, known as AVE. Spain's new Mediterranean Corridor will run all the way to the French border, including stops in Alicante, Valencia, and Castellon. And the plans are being fast-tracked. The hope is to have travelers using the new trains within two years. Would you want EV-charging roads installed in your town? Sign me up Depends how much it costs No way I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Spain has made a tremendous economic commitment to high-speed rail. It allocated over €770 million last year to improving and expanding its network of tracks. High-speed rail comes with a whole host of benefits. On the economic side, commuters can save tremendous amounts of money on the gas and costly car repairs that come with repeated long car trips. And train tickets are generally cheaper than passage on airplanes or other forms of travel. Plus, the construction of high-speed rail networks creates a lot of jobs. High-speed trains are also an extremely convenient timesaver. They can get you where you need to go efficiently and quickly. And while you're riding, instead of having to focus on the road, you can get work done or simply relax. Economists estimate the boost in productivity brought by high-speed rail to be significant. The environmental benefits are also huge. High-speed trains help get a ton of cars off the road, reducing global dependence on dirty fuels like oil and gas. Fewer cars mean less emissions — and less pollution means cleaner air for everyone. There are many plans for more high-speed rail construction around the world. Canada has sought to build tracks between Toronto and Quebec City that are estimated to boost that economy by billions of dollars. And California has begun laying track to create the state's own high-speed network. Officials in Spain were excited about the streamlining nature of their new project. Óscar Puente, the Minister of Transport, said, "In 2027, a person can get on in Almeria and reach France without passing through Madrid or making any transfers." He also said, "The AVE lines will have the flexibility to boost travel within the Valencia region, as well as long distance journeys." Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
