While the Canaries escaped largely unscathed from the massive power outage that brought mainland Spain to a standstill on 28 April, residents of La Palma received a reminder yet again of what it is like to be without electricity yesterday.
A problem at one of the island’s main electricity sub-stations saw power cut to almost a quarter of La Palma’s population of 83,000 across a number of towns for approximately two hours in the morning.
A Canarian government spokesman said the problem, which is the second to hit La Palma in the space of just one week, arose when systems shut down automatically as demand for electricity outstripped available supply just before 10 am. Power was restored fully by 11.45 but not before the failure prompted the island authorities to issue a strongly-worded statement in protest at the recurring outages which, it says, are having a serious effect on the population.
“The quality of life of thousands of people in La Palma cannot continue to be threatened by these persistent electricity supply problems, which also impact heavily on tourism and the wider economy” said the Cabildo’s energy councillor, Fernando González.
The incident was raised on national TV when Spanish minister Sara Aagesen was asked to comment on the outage and replied that only 1% of La Palma’s energy is generated by renewable sources, with virtually all of it coming from diesel power stations. Moreover, she added, the Canaries’ isolated geographical position makes them more vulnerable to supply issues.
