Blackout in Spain actually cut satellite connections in Greenland
It was initially an assumption, but it has now been confirmed: The historic power outage on the Iberian Peninsula had repercussions all the way to the far north
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The massive power outage on the Iberian Peninsula a week ago actually had an impact as far away as Greenland. This has now been confirmed by the local postal and telecommunications company Tusass. According to the report, the blackout did not cause the provider's facilities in Maspalomas on Gran Canaria to shut down. However, the data cables that connect the station itself run through Spain and were affected by the power failure, which is why contact was lost. The provider assures us that lessons will be learned.
Search for causes still underway in Spain
Hours after the blackout began in Spain, Tusas announced that access to the Internet, the telephone network, television reception, radio and text messaging services had failed in several municipalities on Greenland. A connection to the power outage was suspected, even if the background was unclear. Tusass has since explained that the communities are connected via satellite links, the remote station of which is located on Gran Canaria. Not only is the satellite comparatively close there, but the weather is also usually stable. At the same time, large amounts of data can be transported via data cables there. However, because this was suddenly no longer the case, the connection was interrupted.
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While the search for the cause was quick in the far north, key questions remain unanswered with regard to the power outage in Spain and Portugal. The power grid there collapsed completely a week ago, and it took hours to restore it. As a result, countless people were trapped in subways, trains and elevators, many stores closed or only accepted cash. The emergency power supply had to be activated in hospitals. Preliminary analyses have now revealed that another fault had occurred in the power grid just seconds before the decisive disruption, El PaĂs now reports, citing the government. While this fluctuation could still be absorbed, this was no longer possible seconds later.
(mho)
