What is the “energy zero” and why the supply can go suddenly but it takes hours to recover

The general blackout in Spain is causing many problems at the level of transport or trade, and in the meantime hospitals are going to their emergency generators. The situation has been caused after the so -called “energy zero”.

Energy zero. This is called the situation in which the flow of electricity in an electrical system is interrupted or significantly reduced, reaching zero. The question, of course, is why this problem occurs.

Diverse causes. This event can occur for various reasons such as infrastructure failures, climatic events or great imbalances between supply and demand.

Consequences. We are living them: lack of supply in essential homes, businesses and services such as transport, communications or health, in addition to damage to teams and the consequent economic impact.

It has already happened in the Canary Islands. In June 2020 there was an energy zero in the south of Tenerife, and in fact in the Canary Islands there have been several similar episodes In recent years. The Governing Council approved in September 2022 a sanction of eight million euros to Red Eléctrica de España for the problems derived from that fall.

And in the world. There have been large electric blackouts in various parts of the world for decades. In Italy, in 2003, 57 million people They were affected by a high voltage line affected by a series of fallen trees during a storm. In India, in July 2012, 700 million people They were affected by an electricity overdex. Chile suffered a recent blackout last February

A very serious infraction of the Law of the Electric Sector. The law of the electrical sector that regulates these situations establish that these types of problems represent a very serious infraction. In article 64.31 The following is specified:

“The interruption or suspension of the supply without the legal or regulation requirements established or outside the assumptions provided legally or regulation.”

The supply goes fast, but slowly returns. In this type of event, the electricity supply goes completely in an instant, but its recovery is much more gradual and can take hours. From Red Electrica Español they indicated half an hour after the blackout how the supply begins to recover in the north and southern peninsular, but it will take some time that the recovery is complete. It is not known how exactly, but in some parts of Spain the electricity supply is already being recovered, they indicate media such as being.

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