The electricity supply in Lanzarote and La Graciosa has been restored following the power cut that occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning, which affected some 84,000 customers, according to Endesa.
The electricity company told EFE that the incident occurred at 05:40 at the 66-kilovolt Mácher substation, which belongs to Red Eléctrica Española (REE), where all the 66 kV circuit breakers tripped.
The incident initially affected 15,595 customers and necessitated the restoration of the service via medium-voltage feeders from neighbouring substations, in coordination with REE.
Lanzarote: Outage affects a further 68,478 customers
Subsequently, at 05:44, a low-frequency trip occurred, extending the disruption to a further 68,478 customers served by the Bartolomé and Punta Grande substations, where all generation at the power station was shut down.
Endesa has stated that the power supply was gradually restored in accordance with REE’s instructions and that «virtually all» of the service was restored at 07:13.
The company added that an incident was subsequently detected on a 20-kilovolt line at the Punta Grande substation, caused by a fault in an underground cable, which was «quickly» isolated.
According to Endesa, the entire electricity distribution network was fully restored at 07:13, although the 66-kilovolt Mácher-Tías 1 line, which forms part of REE’s transmission network, remained out of service.
The company has also stated that the southern part of Lanzarote remained «unaffected» in terms of its electricity supply throughout the incident.
Endesa has stated that both the electricity company and REE are investigating the causes of the incident, which also affected the high-voltage section of the national grid.
Drinking water production halts; government declares a pre-alert level
According to the public utility company Aguas de Lanzarote y La Graciosa, the power cut has also caused the desalination plants on both islands to shut down and brought drinking water production to a halt; the company is working to restore production and normalise the supply «as soon as possible», prioritising the conservation of available reserves.
At 7.15 am, the Canary Islands Government’s Directorate-General for Emergencies declared a pre-alert, which will enable the situation to be monitored, the relevant authorities and organisations to be coordinated, and the potential impact on essential services to be assessed.
«Power cut on Lanzarote halts drinking water production»
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