Latest news with #Aagesen
Euronews
6 days ago
- Climate
- Euronews
All four crew members killed in South Korean navy plane crash
All four crew members aboard a South Korean navy plane have been killed after the aircraft crashed in the southeastern coastal city of Pohang, the navy has said. The P-3C Orion turboprop plane which is used for marine patrols, took off from its base in the city at 1:43 pm and crashed due to unknown reasons, the navy said in a statement. It said it had identified the bodies of the four crew members and was in the process of recovering them. There were no immediate reports of civilian casualties on the ground. The navy has set up a task force to investigate the crash and has temporarily grounded its fleet of P-3s, dubbed "submarine killers" due to their submarine fighting abilities. An emergency office in Pohang said that rescuers and fire trucks were dispatched to the site after receiving reports from residents that an aircraft had crashed on a hill near an apartment complex and caused a fire. Photos showed firefighters and emergency vehicles near the P-3C crash site with flames flickering as smoke engulfed nearby trees. Local emergency services said two helicopters and 40 firefighters had been deployed to the area to fight the fire. The South Korean navy is in the middle of plans to upgrade its aeroplane fleet to Boeing P-8A Poseidon, set to be completed by mid-2025. The Spanish government has announced a 530-million euro plan to protect communities against extreme weather events, following the flash floods that killed 233 people in Valencia in October. On Wednesday, Sara Aagesen, the minister for ecological transition, presented the reforms to associations that represent the victims of the disaster. They included the new mapping of flood zones and the renaturalising of riverbeds. The deadly floods in Valencia happened as a result of a phenomenon known by the Spanish acronym DANA, which occurs when warm and cold air meet to form powerful rain clouds. The process is thought to now happen more regularly because of climate change. "Our commitment and responsibility is not only to rebuild everything that the DANA destroyed in your municipalities, but also to improve resilience in order to have a better prepared territory," said Aagesen during her meeting with the associations. "The minister confirmed that they are working on the enlargement of the ravines, which will allow us to sleep more peacefully," said Cristian Lesaec, president of one of the groups. Rosa Álvarez, who is part of a different association, has called for road upgrades in potentially floodable areas. Aagesen promised that this work would begin in 2026, according to Álvarez. The Spanish minister also detailed a plan to renovate hydraulic infrastructure, which will see the repair of supply, sanitation and purification facilities affected by October's flooding. Another protest is due to take place on Thursday against the Valencian government's management of the disaster. This comes after Carlos Mazón, the president of the local government, expressed his displeasure at the victims associations' decision to meet with officials from Madrid. Mazón had wanted to meet them first. However, the associations said they would only meet him if a veto blocking an inquiry into the Valencian parliament's handling of the catastrophe was lifted.
Euronews
6 days ago
- Politics
- Euronews
Spain unveils €530m plan to reduce damage of extreme weather events
The Spanish government has announced a 530-million euro plan to protect communities against extreme weather events, following the flash floods that killed 233 people in Valencia in October. On Wednesday, Sara Aagesen, the minister for ecological transition, presented the reforms to associations that represent the victims of the disaster. They included the new mapping of flood zones and the renaturalising of riverbeds. The deadly floods in Valencia happened as a result of a phenomenon known by the Spanish acronym DANA, which occurs when warm and cold air meet to form powerful rain clouds. The process is thought to now happen more regularly because of climate change. "Our commitment and responsibility is not only to rebuild everything that the DANA destroyed in your municipalities, but also to improve resilience in order to have a better prepared territory," said Aagesen during her meeting with the associations. "The minister confirmed that they are working on the enlargement of the ravines, which will allow us to sleep more peacefully," said Cristian Lesaec, president of one of the groups. Rosa Álvarez, who is part of a different association, has called for road upgrades in potentially floodable areas. Aagesen promised that this work would begin in 2026, according to Álvarez. The Spanish minister also detailed a plan to renovate hydraulic infrastructure, which will see the repair of supply, sanitation and purification facilities affected by October's flooding. Another protest is due to take place on Thursday against the Valencian government's management of the disaster. This comes after Carlos Mazón, the president of the local government, expressed his displeasure at the victims associations' decision to meet with officials from Madrid. Mazón had wanted to meet them first. However, the associations said they would only meet him if a veto blocking an inquiry into the Valencian parliament's handling of the catastrophe was lifted.
Euronews
15-05-2025
- Science
- Euronews
Spain identifies power failure 'ground zero' in Iberian blackout probe
Spain's investigation into the blackout that affected the Iberian Peninsula in late April revealed initial power generation failures in three Spanish provinces — Granada, Badajoz, and Seville, Minister for Ecological Transition Sara Aagesen told the Spanish Congress of Deputies on Wednesday. The substation in Granada was ground zero, and the power failure caused a loss of 2.2 gigawatts of electricity, causing a chain of grid disconnections. The cause of the substations' failures remains unknown at this time. During her speech at the plenary session, Aagesen said that the ongoing investigation has ruled out several hypotheses, including that the massive outage that started on 28 April was due to coverage, backup, or network size. The government is acting seriously to get to the bottom of it, Aagesen reiterated. "The government is working with rigour and not making hypotheses, because that is what the Spanish people deserve. Rigour and truth," she explained. The findings are the first clear conclusions to be made public after more than two weeks since the blackout that saw Spain and Portugal grind to a halt. Aagesen said this remains "an extremely complex investigation" because "millions of bits of data" are being analysed. At the same time, the energy minister pointed out that, according to the data available, half an hour before the blackout, "two oscillations in the Iberian system with the rest of the European continent" were recorded. This observation coincides with preliminary reports from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E), which pointed to "two periods of power and frequency swings in the synchronous area of continental Europe." Aagesen has assured that the government will continue "relentlessly" to "identify the causes" of this "extremely complex" incident, which "does not come with simple explanations".
USA Today
15-05-2025
- Science
- USA Today
Substation power loss pinpointed as ground zero of Spain's blackout
Substation power loss pinpointed as ground zero of Spain's blackout MADRID, May 14 (Reuters) - An abrupt loss of power generation at a substation in Granada, followed by failures seconds later in Badajoz and Seville, triggered an unprecedented blackout across Spain and Portugal on April 28, Spain's energy minister said on Wednesday. Sara Aagesen told lawmakers that the three initial incidents, whose cause has yet to be determined, led to a generation loss of 2.2 gigawatts of electricity, which triggered a series of grid disconnections. Several investigations are looking into the power outage, but it is the first time Spanish authorities have pointed to a specific origin. Establishing the cause of the outage will take time and there will likely be no simple answers to what appears to be a complex issue, Aagesen said. "We are analysing millions of pieces of data. We also continue to make progress in identifying where these generation losses occurred and we already know that they started in Granada, Badajoz and Seville," Aagesen said. More: 'Induced atmospheric vibration': Did rare weather event cause Europe's blackout? A spokesperson for grid operator REE said Spain's main transmission grid had no incidents on April 28 before the blackout, and the power loss "occurred due to causes outside" the grid, possibly at generation plants themselves or in smaller grids not managed by REE. The government's investigation is also looking at reports by operators of volatility in the days before the blackout and is examining excessive voltage as one possible cause for the loss of generation, according to Aagesen. Investigators, Aagesen said, had ruled out any cyberattack on REE's grid, an imbalance in supply and demand or insufficient grid capacity. She also denied suggestions by some opposition lawmakers that the government had received and ignored warnings from experts that a major blackout could occur, adding that it would be premature to attribute responsibilities until it's known what happened that day. "There was no alert, no warning," she said. More: Photos: Millions without power in Spain, Portugal after 'induced atmospheric vibration' Spain's use of renewable energy as an increasing part of its electricity generation has come under scrutiny since the blackout, as has its plan to phase out nuclear energy by 2035. Critics have said that one possible contributor to the outage may have been a lack of so-called "grid inertia" because of the relatively small share of nuclear and fossil fuel generation in Spain's power mix. Aagesen defended the government's energy policy, saying that renewables have lowered bills for households and businesses and will allow Spain to attract more investment while providing more energy autonomy at a time of geopolitical instability. Spain's electricity system continues to use the same level of renewables as it did before and during the outage, she said. "A mix with more renewables reduces external risks. It enables us to anticipate, adapt to, and respond quickly to any eventuality." Aagesen signalled openness to extending the life of nuclear plants, but only if operators could guarantee their security and acceptable prices for consumers, and if this could be shown to contribute to security of supply. (Reporting by Pietro Lombardi. Writing by Charlie Devereux. Editing by Mark Heinrich, Elaine Hardcastle and Mark Potter)
Local Spain
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Local Spain
Spain rules out that cyberattack caused nationwide blackout
Authorities have been scrambling to find answers more than two weeks after the April 28th outage cut telecommunications, halted transport and plunged cities into darkness across Spain and Portugal. Spanish grid operator Red Electrica said it had detected no "cybersecurity incident" during the crisis, after the government had refused to rule out any potential explanation. "After analysing all the relevant data, we have not found indications that the system operator was targeted by a cyberattack," Ecological Transition Minister Sara Aagesen told parliament. Aagesen provided a detailed chronology of events, saying two major power fluctuations were recorded in the half-hour before the grid collapse at 12:33 pm (1033 GMT). She also revealed the precise location of three incidents that triggered the outage, substations in the southern provinces of Granada, Badajoz and Seville. Authorities are analysing a possible link between the fluctuations and the blackout alongside hundreds of millions of pieces of data by electricity companies and Red Eléctrica, Aagesen said. She also hit out at criticism from the right-wing opposition, which has questioned the Socialist-led government's increasing reliance on renewable energy and a planned phase-out of nuclear power. The investigation into the outage "will last as long as necessary" and "we will not allow hastiness to take us away from the truth", Aagesen said.
