The President of the Regional Government considered the power cut that affected mainland Portugal yesterday to be “very serious” and defended the carrying out of an inquiry to ascertain the circumstances and ensure that the country has energy autonomy to deal with similar situations.
“I tried to understand what had happened, but there are several situations that are still not very clear,” said Miguel Albuquerque, when questioned by journalists, on the sidelines of the presentation of ARDITI’s PhD Companies programme. “What I understood is that part of the country’s energy – I don’t know if a third or two-thirds – was being consumed by Spain, and when the disturbance on the Spanish side occurred, we were not able to put our plants into operation. This led to a general power cut in the country, which I think is a very serious thing.”
In this sense, the minister defended the holding of an inquiry to ascertain the circumstances of the blackout and “ensure greater energy autonomy in the country. This is not sustainable. How can Lisbon be without power between 11:00 and midnight? This should not be possible.”
Albuquerque pointed out that the disturbances only minimally affected Madeira, although those affected were the courts, banks, and some public administration services.
“We continue with our energy sources,” he said after being asked if the Region would be prepared if it were directly affected in a similar situation. “We have energy autonomy in Madeira, so we are not dependent on third parties. There are protocols ensuring that any system failures are automatically backed up by replacement sources.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
