Latest news with #Prieto
7NEWS
13-05-2025
- 7NEWS
Mum fighting for life in hospital after driving on wrong side of road before head-on truck collision
The family of a single mum left fighting for life after she drove on the wrong side of an Australian freeway and collided head-on with a truck say the mistake could happen to anyone. Paulina Prieto, 36, was heading home in the early hours of Friday morning when she turned at an intersection and travelled against traffic on the city-bound lanes of Melbourne 's CityLink. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Daughter of woman left fighting for life after crash urges public for help. She crashed head-on into a truck inside the tunnel at Burnley just after 2am and was rushed to hospital with critical injuries. The truck driver was not injured. 'My heart just kind of stopped. I didn't really know what to think,' Prieto's 14-year-old daughter Monse Romero told 7NEWS. 'It was really shocking the first two days. I did cry a little bit.' Family say the mum, who works three jobs, had a moment of confusion after taking a wrong turn, and believe her mistake could happen to anyone. 'We thought that if she had been travelling down the wrong way for such a long time there would be some signs or some signals or some sort of alerts to let her know or the other driver,' family friend Sebastian Alberti said. 'There's a lot of questions why she wasn't notified or why the truck driver [wasn't] notified.' The mother remains in an induced coma at The Alfred Hospital but is slowly making improvements each day. 'It's hard her not talking back to me and not making the jokes we make,' her daughter said. Her family is preparing for a long recovery and a GoFundMe has been launched to assist with costs while she is in hospital.
Euronews
29-04-2025
- Climate
- Euronews
Fact check: Did wind and solar really cause Portugal and Spain's mass blackout?
ADVERTISEMENT Spain and Portugal are still reeling from the largest power cut in recent European history, which struck just after midday yesterday. With power supplies mostly back to normal, attention is now focused on what caused the incident. Speculation is rife, and some commentators have been quick to blame renewables, which now make up a large share of both countries' power mixes. 'Net-zero blamed for blackout chaos' proclaimed one headline from UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph, but none of the experts quoted in the article appear to draw that conclusion, and the exact cause remains a mystery. Speaking on Tuesday morning, the Spanish grid operator Red Eléctrica's head of services Eduardo Prieto said that preliminary investigations have ruled out a cybersecurity attack - as some had initially feared. Related Spain and Portugal travel warning: Flight delays and crowded train stations as power returns First victims of Iberian blackout confirmed in Spain as fallout rumbles on Spain's national meteorological office, Aemet, also appears to have ruled out extreme weather as a trigger. 'During the day of 28 April, no unusual meteorological or atmospheric phenomena were detected, and nor were there sudden variations in the temperature in our network of meteorological stations,' it said in a statement this morning. With these potential causes discounted, here's what experts are saying about renewables in the Iberian grid and what role they played in Monday's mass power outage. What happened to Spain's renewables during the blackout? Data from the Spanish grid operator's website showed the dramatic drop in demand yesterday, shortly after 12.30pm, when it nosedived from 25GW to 10GW in an instant. Prieto said that two consecutive events - one at 12.32pm on Monday and another just a second-and-a-half later - pointed to a 'generation disconnection' that had cut off the supply across the peninsula. While the system weathered the first event, it reportedly could not cope with the second. The operator's head of services noted that the problem started in southwest Spain, which is where much of the country's solar energy is generated. Some experts have previously voiced concern that Spain's grid needs to be upgraded to cope with the rapid integration of solar and wind. But others stress the unlikelihood of the mass blackout being down to the intermittent renewables, which the Spanish and Portuguese operators are by now adept at handling. Spanish energy think tank Fundacion Renovables explains that renewable power plants with 2MW of power generation or more were disconnected because of a disturbance in the frequency of the power grid - as per national safety protocols. Essentially, the disturbance was 'a consequence and not a cause', it said in a statement. 'The fact that Spain has a high production of electricity from renewable sources has no link to the grid failures that occurred on Monday,' it adds. 'We regret that an extremely serious situation is being taken advantage of to spread falsehoods and generate disinformation in an already very complex situation for all affected citizens.' In a press conference earlier today, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called claims that renewable energy was to blame for the outage 'lies', attacking those who linked the blackout to Spain's use of wind and solar. ADVERTISEMENT "Those linking the blackout to the lack of nuclear power are either lying or demonstrating their ignorance," he said. Sánchez announced that the government has set up a commission to investigate the incident and will be examining the role of private energy companies. Related Are solar farms destroyed during storms? Experts debunk the myth that panels can't handle the wind 'Solar Marshall Plan': Can Ukraine become the world's first post-war country rebuilt on renewables? Solar helped Spain's electricity system recover Advocates of renewable energy emphasise that solar and wind are reliable energy sources, and go hand-in-hand with energy security . Stephen Jarvis, assistant professor in environmental economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, was tracking the grid changes yesterday as Spain attempted to bring the grid back online. He observed that solar, wind and hydro were still delivering energy in Spain, at a time when nuclear, gas and coal were totally offline. ADVERTISEMENT Got the Spanish grid operator data on generation by source type working now too. Confirms the ENTSOE data that it remains solar/wind/hydro that is still operating. Nuclear/gas/coal remain basically offline for now - presumably tripped off when demand fell (or vice versa depending on the root cause). [image or embed] — Stephen Jarvis ( @ ) 28 April 2025 at 13:48 Far from being the cause of the peninsula's woes, Fundacion Renovables states that the large percentage of renewable energy in Spain and the flexibility of hydropower systems enabled the nation to react and recover more quickly. 'If Spain had not had so much renewable capacity, the return to normality of the grid would have been longer in time,' it adds. As investigations into the main grid outage continue, CEO of Global Solar Council Sonia Dunlop noted that solar also has an important role to play during power cuts. 'If you have rooftop solar and storage on your home or business, and if it is wired up to be able to work off-grid, then you are much more resilient to blackouts,' she posted on X yesterday. ADVERTISEMENT ' Solar and storage provide resilience to climate impacts, natural disasters and more. If heatwaves and freak weather are going to lead to more blackouts, it might be worth more people installing solar in such a way that it can go into island mode.' The incident has also prompted discussion on the Iberian Peninsula's status as an 'energy island' within the EU, given it is relatively disconnected from the rest of the bloc. It remains to be fully analysed whether closer links with Europe's grids could have aided Spain and Portugal - or put more countries at risk.
RTÉ News
29-04-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Questions over power supply remain as Spain recovers from blackout
At around 12.30pm local time, there was a sudden and devastating problem on a Spanish power line. In five seconds, the Iberian network lost 15 GW of power, approximately 60% of normal consumer demand. The sudden blackout crippled transport networks, shut cash machines, knocked out traffic lights and switched off thousands of computers. The problem spread to Portugal and France. Spain's main business lobby CEOE estimates the outage will cut €1.6 billion of GDP with the meat industry estimating losses of up to €190 million as fridges lost power. The slump in power generation went beyond what the electrical systems are designed to handle and the Spanish grid was disconnected from the European system. The system then collapsed, leading to voltage losses in the supply points of both the Spanish and Portuguese Peninsula's electrical systems, according to grid operator Red Eléctrica. The authorities have been adamant that they will get to the source of the problem. Eduardo Prieto, operations director for Red Eléctrica, said there was no evidence of a cyber attack. "We have been able to conclude there was no intrusion in our electricity grid control system that could have caused the incident," Mr Prieto said. Despite this, the country's High Court said it would investigate whether the grid had suffered a terrorist strike. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has not ruled out any possible cause at this point. Europe's energy providers are tightly integrated, with power flowing back and forth across the continent according to generation and demand. Spain and Portugal have a series of interconnectors with France, although both sides of the Pyrenees have been in negotiation for years over increasing that number. The most common cause of unplanned and large scale power cuts is extreme weather such as storms, lightning strikes or high winds. Faults at power stations, power distribution lines, substations or other parts of the electricity transmission system or grid can also trigger major outages. The initial suggestion by Spain's energy network is that exceptional temperatures on one part of the grid may have triggered what are called "induced atmospheric vibrations". A surge in power caused by such "oscillations" can cause one line to "trip". If that happens, then the current running through the line is split and diverted into two adjacent lines. Those lines in turn are suddenly carrying more electricity than normal and the currents are split again, this time over more adjacent lines, with the same build up of excess power. This results in a cascading effect which can ripple through a region and across borders. "What happens in Spain can have an impact on other countries and what happens on the other side of continental Europe can have an impact on Spain," says a senior EU official. On 21 June 2024, two separate incidents hit power lines in the Balkans, causing three hour outages in Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Albania. Following an investigation, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity established that the outages were caused by vegetation touching power lines. Astonishingly, the incidents happened just 15 minutes apart: one on an overhead line near Podgorica in Montenegro, and the second on a line linking Greece and Albania. Due to exceptionally high temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius that month, vegetation had grown beyond the level at which it should have been trimmed. As a result of the investigation, new recommendations were introduced on the need to properly keep vegetation away from power lines. The initial reports so far suggest that a dangerous cascade is what swept through the Iberian energy network. Red Eléctrica said there was "strong oscillation in power flow," which triggered "a very significant loss of generation." Spain is one of Europe's biggest producers of renewable energy and yesterday's shutdown has already sparked debate about whether the volatility of supply from solar or wind made its power systems more vulnerable to such an outage. Red Eléctrica data showed solar photovoltaic (PV) energy was providing almost 59% of Spain's electricity at the time of the blackout, while wind power was providing nearly 12%. Energy systems can be vulnerable when combining intermittent renewable power such as wind and solar with traditional sources such as gas and nuclear plants, according to Victor Becerra, a professor of power systems engineering at the University of Portsmouth. "Whatever the cause, a major failure in one area can place sudden pressure on neighbouring systems, causing protective shutdowns to prevent further damage," he told Reuters. The Spanish prime minister has ruled out renewable energy as the cause of the problem, while the European Commission has been reticent in attributing blame. Eduardo Prieto, operations director for Red Eléctrica, said it was "very possible" the outage was linked to solar energy production, according to Spanish media reports. Either way, the revolution in renewables means national grid operators and EU authorities are having to adapt. "We need to look at what the causes have been in this case," says one EU official. "There is the experience we are gaining in new systems as we evolve in the energy transition. These systems are different from the previous ones - that's why you need to manage them in a different manner." EU officials have said that the evidence coming in so far suggests that whatever happened on the Spanish grid caused the interconnector with France to "trip" as well as local lines, accentuating the problem across the Iberian Peninsula. When such an outage occurs, the European network is triggered to provide an emergency response to gradually restore power in carefully coordinated phases. In this incident, Spain relied on the interconnectors with France and Morocco, as well as hydroelectric power, due to its flexibility, to start gradually phasing in energy to reboot the system. "Typically you start energizing small areas, called islands, and then you start connecting them to each other until the whole system is up [and running]," says one EU official. Under EU rules, two investigations must now take place. Having notified the Commission of the emergency, Spain will have to file a report within three months, explaining the cause, the impacts and what remedial measures have been put in place. In parallel, a technical report is carried out by a panel of experts. This investigation is led by the Transmission System Operators (TSOs) of a member state not affected, with the TSOs from Spain, France and Portugal joining the investigation, as well as other operators interested. Once both reports have been finalised, the European Commission can make recommendations on lessons learned and any changes which might be needed to the rules operating the European network. There have been complaints that Spain and France have dragged their feet in boosting the number of interconnectors between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of the European energy zone. The EU's High-Level Group on Interconnections for South-West Europe, comprising officials from France, Spain, Portugal as well as neighbouring TSOs, has been attempting to boost the construction of interconnectors. Interconnection capacity between France and Spain was doubled following the completion of the Santa-Llogaia-Baixas electricity line in 2015, while a transformer in Arkale, Spain, in 2017 brought the line into full capacity during the winter of 2017. Other interconnectors remain to be completed, including one between Spain and Portugal, expected to be finished by the autumn, and the Biscay Bay electricity interconnection, which is under construction and expected to be commissioned by 2028. These will double the capacity between France and Spain to 5000 MW when completed. Two further interconnectors are planned between the Pamplona area in Spain and Cantegrit in France, and between Marsillon in France and the Aragón region. "Having a more interconnected system in the EU is better for everyone, for market integration, for security of supply," the official said.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Power is back on in Spain and Portugal, but questions remain about Monday's blackout. Here's what we know
Electricity is pulsing through Spain and Portugal again after a massive outage knocked out power in both countries on Monday. So too are questions. It remains unclear what caused the sudden and staggering blackout, which plunged tens of millions of people into darkness and paralyzed life on the Iberian peninsula. Authorities are investigating whether a freak event, a cyberattack or some other cause is to blame, while airports and train stations are catching up with a huge backlog. Here's what you need to know. Spain's electrical grid was running as normal until 12:33 p.m. (6:33 a.m. ET) when, suddenly, it suffered a disturbance. Eduardo Prieto, the director of services for the grid operator Red Eléctrica, said the grid recovered after that first shock. But a second disconnection, one and a half seconds later, caused 'a degradation of operating variables' of the system, leading to a 'massive generation disconnection' and 'disconnection of the connection lines with France.' In the space of a few seconds, 15 gigawatts of energy suddenly dropped from Spain's supply, Spanish government sources told CNN – equivalent to 60% of the electricity being consumed at the time – and the entire Spanish grid collapsed as a result. 'A second and a half may not seem like much. Indeed, it is nothing for any human action. In the electrical world it is a very long time,' Prieto said on Tuesday. This is the crucial question that tens of millions of people in Spain and Portugal have been asking. And the answer is: We don't know. Past blackouts in Europe have often had obvious causes, like a fire or extreme weather. But this event occurred on a warm and sunny day in Spain, and more than 24 hours after the outage, it remains unclear why the entire country lost power. The problem appears to have originated in Spain: Portugal's Prime Minister Luís Montenegro was quick to point the finger at his neighboring nation on Monday. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said at a Tuesday press conference that his government has created an 'investigation commission.' Sanchez said an excess in renewable energy production was not the cause, Reuters reported, ruling out one possibility. He confirmed that Spain's cybersecurity authorities are also looking into whether a cyberattack was the cause. Spain's top criminal court also said on Tuesday it was exploring whether 'an act of computer sabotage on critical infrastructure' was to blame. Electricity was completely knocked out in most of Spain and Portugal for several hours, finally returning to most places on Monday evening. Traffic lights, street lamps, payment terminals and screens were all cut off unless they were battery powered; many shops shut and others were forced to accept only cash payments. Travel was badly hit: Flights were canceled in airports across Spain and Portugal. Dozens of Iberian cities, like Madrid, Lisbon, Barcelona, Seville and Valencia, are major hubs for transport, finance and tourism. Two of the five busiest airports in the European Union in 2023 were Madrid's and Barcelona's, according to EU data. Police officers were forced to direct traffic with hand signals; roads quickly clogged and subway systems were closed down. But the worst-case scenarios were averted: Spain's nuclear sites were declared operational and safe, and hospitals in both countries ran on back-up generators. CNN's Vasco Cotovio, Michael Rios, Gerardo Lemos and Ivana Kottasová contributed reporting
CNN
29-04-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Power is back on in Spain and Portugal, but questions remain about Monday's blackout. Here's what we know
Electricity is pulsing through Spain and Portugal again after a massive outage knocked out power in both countries on Monday. So too are questions. It remains unclear what caused the sudden and staggering blackout, which plunged tens of millions of people into darkness and paralyzed life on the Iberian peninsula. Authorities are investigating whether a freak event, a cyberattack or some other cause is to blame, while airports and train stations are catching up with a huge backlog. Here's what you need to know. Spain's electrical grid was running as normal until 12:33 p.m. (6:33 a.m. ET) when, suddenly, it suffered a disturbance. Eduardo Prieto, the director of services for the grid operator Red Eléctrica, said the grid recovered after that first shock. But a second disconnection, one and a half seconds later, caused 'a degradation of operating variables' of the system, leading to a 'massive generation disconnection' and 'disconnection of the connection lines with France.' In the space of a few seconds, 15 gigawatts of energy suddenly dropped from Spain's supply, Spanish government sources told CNN – equivalent to 60% of the electricity being consumed at the time – and the entire Spanish grid collapsed as a result. 'A second and a half may not seem like much. Indeed, it is nothing for any human action. In the electrical world it is a very long time,' Prieto said on Tuesday. This is the crucial question that tens of millions of people in Spain and Portugal have been asking. And the answer is: We don't know. Past blackouts in Europe have often had obvious causes, like a fire or extreme weather. But this event occurred on a warm and sunny day in Spain, and more than 24 hours after the outage, it remains unclear why the entire country lost power. The problem appears to have originated in Spain: Portugal's Prime Minister Luís Montenegro was quick to point the finger at his neighboring nation on Monday. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said at a Tuesday press conference that his government has created an 'investigation commission.' Sanchez said an excess in renewable energy production was not the cause, Reuters reported, ruling out one possibility. He confirmed that Spain's cybersecurity authorities are also looking into whether a cyberattack was the cause. Spain's top criminal court also said on Tuesday it was exploring whether 'an act of computer sabotage on critical infrastructure' was to blame. Electricity was completely knocked out in most of Spain and Portugal for several hours, finally returning to most places on Monday evening. Traffic lights, street lamps, payment terminals and screens were all cut off unless they were battery powered; many shops shut and others were forced to accept only cash payments. Travel was badly hit: Flights were canceled in airports across Spain and Portugal. Dozens of Iberian cities, like Madrid, Lisbon, Barcelona, Seville and Valencia, are major hubs for transport, finance and tourism. Two of the five busiest airports in the European Union in 2023 were Madrid's and Barcelona's, according to EU data. Police officers were forced to direct traffic with hand signals; roads quickly clogged and subway systems were closed down. But the worst-case scenarios were averted: Spain's nuclear sites were declared operational and safe, and hospitals in both countries ran on back-up generators. CNN's Vasco Cotovio, Michael Rios, Gerardo Lemos and Ivana Kottasová contributed reporting
