06-11-06

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi called for creating a pan-European department for energy control, to avoid disruptions in electricity supply in European countries.
“I see a contradiction in the fact that there is a unified European energy network without central energy-controlling department. It is absurd to some extent,” said Prodi.

It became colder on the night of November 4, which caused a sharp increase in electricity demand, and German electric network had a breakdown. Thus, millions of people in several West European countries remained without electricity. The breakdown happened in Cologne, and then spread to parts of France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Croatia.
According to German energy company E.ON, preliminary investigation showed that the breakdown was caused by overtaxing in north-western Germany. It might also have happened due to temporary shutdown of a high-voltage line which hangs over the river, to let a ship pass safely under the wire.

Fire-fighting services in Paris received about 40 phone calls from people who got stuck in elevators because of the sudden electricity cut-off. In Germany, there were delays on railways. Many trains fell almost 2 hours behind schedule. Three Italian provinces remained without electricity for about an hour.
In Spain, there were electricity-supply disruptions in Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza, and in some parts of the autonomous region of Andalusia. France suffered most, where 5 mm people remained without electric energy in the east of the country, and in Paris and its environs.

Most networks resumed work within 2 hours after the first breakdown. There have been no reports on any incidents caused by the events so far.
The most serious blackout of such kind happened in Italy in 2003, when the whole county had no electricity for 18 hours.