What caused European electrical power out?

Causes the power failure That left Millions in Spain and Portugal without electricity On Monday, the determination was not fully determined, although the service is now restored across 99 percent of the Iberian Peninsula. Red Eléctrica, the general company responsible for operating the transmission infrastructure in Spain, usually excluded electronic attacks, human error, unusual weather or weather conditions as a cause of interruption. The company indicates Renewable sources.

Specialists emphasize that this type of overall blackout – an exceptional and rare event – is also a safety mechanism for the electricity system itself. In order for the network to work constantly, the balance of energy production must be maintained with consumption; The imbalances can cause power outages as well as the possibility of infrastructure damage.

Maintaining the balance of the network is the responsibility of the system operator, which monitors parameters such as electrical frequency, voltage, and loading from sub -stations in actual time. When there are great differences between obstetrics and demand, automatic separation is activated in specific areas of the network to avoid imbalances. In the most dangerous situations, the effects of these interruptions that were run to the entire network can extend.

“This generalized blackout has happened because in just five seconds, it has been more than half of the power of the electricity generation,” said Alparo de la Pente generation, professor of electrical engineering at the College of Mining Engineering at the University Scientific Information Center (SMC) in Spain. The network, unable to balance such a sharp decrease between obstetrics and demand, is reserved by separating both internally and from the rest of the European network.

In comments on SMC, Miguel de Simon Martin, professor of electrical engineering at Lyon University, explains that the balance on the network is usually guaranteed by three things. The first is a complex network of interconnected lines, known as networks, which distribute electrical flows across the network to prevent excess loading. Second, there is a correlation with the networks of neighboring countries, which allows the import or export of energy as needed to balance the generation of generation and demand.

Finally, there is something called “mechanical stalemate”. Calming generators – large spinning machines that generate electricity at power stations – also store a lot of energy in very large rotating parts. Imagine, for example, a coal power plant. Even if you stop burning coal to generate more energy, the huge and heavy turbines that it uses to create electricity will continue to spin for some time because of the energy stored in it. Known as mechanical stalemate, this phenomenon can be a buffer against sudden fluctuations in the network. When there are imbalances between power generation and demand, simultaneous generators can accelerate or slow down their periodic speed to balance things, and they behave mainly as shock absorbers to the network by absorbing or releasing energy as needed.

“A large network and good viewing, with strong interconnectedness and abundant simultaneous generators, are more stable and less likely to fail,” says De Simon Martin, “It was the Spanish Peninsula Network, and the great generation historically, historically, was wandering in the high and very leveled effort, and its great wild generation. The geographical barrier of the Brans games.”