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Overloads in key electricity interconnections led to a complete outage in almost entire of Montenegro while Bosnia and Herzegovina’s state-owned utility EPBiH cited “a total collapse of the electric power system”. Major blackouts occurred in Croatia’s south and many parts of Albania.
Transmission and distribution system operators are gradually stabilizing the supply of electricity after today’s unprecedented power grid failure in a large part of Southeastern Europe. The exact cause is not yet certain.
Montenegrin news outlet Vijesti reported that the country’s transmission system operator CGES detected a major fire on a 400 kV overhead power line at an inaccessible location near the border with BiH toward the town of Gacko. An unnamed source from the company claimed it is “a consequence of the regional breakdown.” A helicopter unit is necessary to put the fire out, the article adds.
Pobjeda wrote that an explosion occurred at the power line and that it was the cause of the blackout in Montenegro. The key interconnections were overloaded, so almost the entire country was without electricity except for an area in the north.
Similar disruption happened yesterday
BiH’s state-owned utility Elektroprivreda Bosne i Hercegovine underscored that “a total collapse of the electric power system” was at hand. Major blackouts occurred throughout Albania and in some parts of Croatia including Dalmatia and the islands.
Independent System Operator in Bosnia and Herzegovina – NOSBiH said the outage was caused by a disturbance in the high-voltage network “in the region” and an overload of the main interconnections between the countries. The electric power systems of Greece, North Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro had a similar issue yesterday.
“The spread of the collapse of BiH’s electric power system was prevented by the operating staff’s timely intervention and the localization of the problem at the border with Montenegro,” NOSBiH stressed.
OST: Albania-Greece interconnection broke down due to high temperatures, surge in consumption
Albania’s transmission system operator OST blamed “a high consumption volume and extreme temperatures, which caused failures at the interconnection line with Greece,” adding that the breakdown cascaded across the country.
Consumption surged amid great heat, Montenegro’s Minister of Energy and Mining Saša Mujović noted. “In a situation when temperatures are high, it happens that the air’s cooling effect is weaker, and high temperatures lead to an outage at a line,” he asserted.
The fundamental problem of a centralised electrical supply system and climate changes “extreme weather events”. Ironic that most of the Balkans relies on coal.
Btw Texas had the same problem last year.