Photo: Yakup Ipek from Pixabay
The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) has published the final report on a grid incident in the summer of 2024 which left Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Montenegro, and parts of Croatia without power supply for three hours.
An expert panel’s final report on the grid incident of June 21, 2024, in the Western Balkan region highlights the value of international cooperation by transmission system operators (TSOs) and regional coordination centres (RCCs), ENTSO-E said.
It presents the gathered facts with an analysis of the causes of the blackout and recommendations to improve system security. The TSOs involved in blackout are Operatori i Sistemit të Transmetimit (OST) of Albania, Independent System Operator in Bosnia and Herzegovina (NOSBiH), Crnogorski Elektroprenosni Sistem (CGES) of Montenegro and Hrvatski Operator Prijenosnog Sustava (HOPS) of Croatia.
The report identified three main causes of the incident
In November 2024 the organization published an interim-factual report. It said the cause of the cascading power failure on June 21 was overgrown vegetation beneath the two affected overhead lines.
Now the final report identifies the following root causes of the incident:
- The two initial short circuits were caused by vegetation that had grown too close to the power lines.
- The resulting outages on the grid affected more than one TSO, without the operators concerned having an overall view of the grid in the region.
- When the voltage in the system decreased, the available measures were not sufficient to avoid a voltage collapse which ultimately led to the partial blackout in the region.
The report also brings two main recommendations for the TSOs, which are detailed in the report. The first one is that adequate vegetation trimming is crucial for preventing short circuits and maintaining a secure and reliable power network. The expert panel recommends checking the procedure for vegetation growth control.
It said the TSOs should extend their observability area in the neighboring grids so they are informed on technical data in real time and have a more complete view of the grid in their region.
It will allow them to assess the consequences of possible overload situations affecting power lines in neighboring grids that might impact their real-time operations, according to the report.
Twohig: Cooperation of TSOs is crucial to the safe operation of the European electricity system
ENTSO-E said TSOs should develop and implement shared standards in light of the findings and reassess the procedures for handling voltage stability and overloads on powerlines.
According to Sonya Twohig, Secretary-General of ENTSO-E, the report shows that cooperation between TSOs is crucial to the safe operation of the interconnected European electricity system.
“As always, any system failure teaches us how to proceed in the future and here the report shows that cooperation is key. By working together while having clear responsibilities, we are continually improving,” she added.
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