Czech Republic Power Outage Highlights Grid Vulnerability
A snapped high-voltage power line led to a major outage in the Czech Republic, affecting a million customers and key industries. Grid operator CEPS is investigating the cause, ruling out overburdening or third-party interference. The event raises concerns about the stability of European power grids.
- Country:
- Czechia
The Czech Republic faced a major power outage on Friday when a high-voltage power line snapped, impacting nearly a million customers and key industrial sites, including a major oil refinery. Grid operator CEPS reported that the line was not overburdened and continues to investigate the cause behind the disruption.
The sequence of events began at 11:51 a.m., according to CEPS, when a cable on a 400-kilovolt line in the northwest snapped, with no signs of third-party interference. Shortly after, unit 6 of the Ledvice power plant, which was operating at approximately 300 megawatts, failed. This added strain led to further complications.
The grid is designed to withstand such failures, but the cascading issues forced operators to shut down another high-voltage line within minutes. By 10 p.m., the snapped cable was fixed, and most of the grid was restored. The incident underscores vulnerabilities in the European power grid network.
(With inputs from agencies.)
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