And it could happen again, because “politicians are hostages to interests”, say experts
With hospitals, airports and other critical infrastructure now almost fully back on track after Monday’s major power blackout across Portugal and Spain, the reality is that it was a ‘disaster foreseen and foretold’ which experts blame on successive governments’ fixation on dogma.
The folly lies in the premise that all power needs to be green; that Portugal must encourage solar and wind farms – no matter the immediate environmental consequences – because they will ‘free us’ from the devil of fossil fuels. They won’t – and this was made patently clear to the former Socialist government of António Costa four-plus years ago, when it made vast political capital out of closing down two thermoelectric power stations (fuelled by coal) in Pego and Sines ahead of schedule.
The reasons for fossil sources being needed stem from the fact that renewables simply do not have the balance needed to maintain national demand at peak times. Solar does not work at night; wind does not always blow. They are not the “firm energy sources” that can be provided by nuclear energy, natural gas and other now demonised sources, stress experts.
As such, since the closure of Pego and Sines, Portugal has become heavily reliant on importing energy produced in Spain … invariably by coal-fired and/or nuclear power stations.
This ‘lunacy’ was all fully explained years ago – and ignored.
In an opinion article in Observador in 2022, a former director general of energy, Mário Guedesv, explained that the drought at the time meant that hydroelectric power stations (powered by water in dams) had to be temporarily shut down, leaving Portugal in a state of energetic dependence (on Spain) “unseen for decades”.
Retired professor of energy Clemente Pedro Nunes dubbed the scenario “inconceivable and shocking”:v Portugal had previously been a net exporter of electricity. In one fell swoop, it was reduced to importing around 50% of its needs and spending, in 2022 alone, over €1.7 billion for the privilege.
The situation “can only be explained because the government is hostage to interests”, economist Abel Mateus told CNN. Not just this government, every government.
Another ‘expert’, former PSD minister for industry Luís Mira de Amaral – licensed in electrical engineering, as well as having a Master’s in economy – told SIC Notícias on Monday that what was happening in the country was the responsibility of both “PSD and PS ministers who made irresponsible decisions, without competence, without knowledge and without the common sense to listen to those who know.
“Before becoming a minister, I was a network engineer at EDP. I know the system perfectly. I know what I am talking about,” he stressed.
But no reference to these expert warnings/theories came from Portugal’s government, which finally addressed the population, via Antena 1 radio station, at 9.30pm on Monday night, blaming the chaos into which the country had been plunged on “an abrupt increase in voltage on the Spanish grid, the origin of which we cannot explain at the moment”.
Indeed, the origin still had to be “serenely ascertained with Spanish authorities”.
Well-versed in the nuances of political-speak, Mira Amaral took the government’s explanation to be “uma conversa para embalar” (translating loosely as “an account full of falsehoods, manipulation and hidden intentions”).
The root of Monday’s disaster is that, thanks to political decision-making, Portugal has been left with only two power stations capable of performing what is known in the business as “black start” – powering up from scratch, without the help of any source of electricity.
It is because of this that ‘the return to normality’ took so long, and why it started ‘up north’ – where the stations are sited, on the Castelo de Bode dam (hydroelectric) and Tapada de Outeiro (thermoelectric, powered by natural gas) – and only crept south very slowly, powering up hundreds of other stations , arriving in the Algarve in stages from around 10pm.
Water supplies were also affected, as pumping stations require electricity to power the pumps, but by midday on Tuesday, almost the whole country was ‘back to normal’, or at least navigating through the upsets caused by Monday.
As for the government, it was keeping relatively quiet on Tuesday: this is a crucial moment, elections are less than three weeks away and it cannot be seen as trying to pull the wool over the electorates’ eyes (even if its statements on Monday may have suggested this to numerous experts).
Opposition leaders, however, see Monday as yet another failing to ‘expose’. CHEGA leader André Ventura, for example, though not an electrical engineer, clearly endorses Mira Amaral’s criticism, laying the blame for everything that happened on the closure of the country’s coal-fired plants.
PAN leader Inês Sousa Real said the blackout showed “glaring failings” within the government; PCP communists have called for an ‘urgent parliamentary debate’ to try and understand everything that happened; while PS leader Pedro Nuno Santos was one of the first to decry the lack of information given to the population.
According to the government, a message that most people received on their mobile phones in the evening was meant to have gone out mid-afternoon – but got held up by failure of the emergency telecoms network SIRESP.
There will be a lot more ‘dissected’ over the coming days, but the bottom line is that experts would have us believe this is yet another moment in Portuguese contemporary history where ‘our leaders’ have created a truth that suits their own particular narrative, but which is not necessarily the full story – and the full story must be understood in order for a blackout like this not to happen again.
Perhaps the best thing to take out of Monday was the resilience of populations; their acceptance of the unexpected; their wonderful manners on the road (drivers were unusually thoughtful) – and the power of national radio. Antena 1 rose to the challenge of an information vacuum in a way that was truly phenomenal, keeping information running all through the day so that citizens who had heeded Brussels’ timely advice – only a month ago – to stock up on essentials, water, batteries, and ‘a shortwave radio’, were able to feel less isolated than they would have done otherwise.
The government would have us believe that it demonstrated “the capacity for response” – and that without its careful management, hospitals could have ground to a halt due to a lack of diesel for back-up generators. With fuel stations unable to pump fuel, the necessary diesel was secured and transported in tankers with police escort to principal hospitals, ensuring that all vital services were maintained.
Airports were not ‘so lucky’: thousands of passengers were left ‘high and dry’, with many arrivals actually having to leave Lisbon airport on foot, without their luggage, which they were assured would be ready for them as soon as power was restored.
As would be expected, the massive power blackout – also affecting parts of France and Morocco (where supplies are linked to Spain) – made the international news, with a lot of speculation over a possible cyberattack. If expert opinions are correct, however, Portugal’s system is so vulnerable it doesn’t need a cyberattack to bring it crashing unceremoniously down, from one minute to the next.
