A significant power outage has affected nearly nineteen thousand users in La Palma, following a fault at the Los Guinchos electrical substation this Thursday morning. The outage commenced shortly before ten o’clock, significantly disrupting electricity supply in several local municipalities, including Los Llanos de Aridane, Breña Alta and Santa Cruz de La Palma.

After the incident, which caused a mismatch between energy supply and demand, Endesa was able to restore approximately forty percent of the power within thirty minutes. However, it took until eleven thirty-four for full service to be resumed. The director general of Energy for the Canary Islands, Alberto Hernández, confirmed that the failure involved two twelve-megawatt generators.

Though investigations are ongoing, initial reports suggest that the issue may be linked to electrical bars operating at sixty-six thousand volts at the substation. This incident comes just days after a significant blackout affected the mainland on the twenty-eighth of April, prompting independent investigations by the Government and the National Court.

Sara Aagesen, the Minister for Ecological Transition, noted that renewable energy generation on the island was less than one percent at the time of the outage, with the majority of supply reliant on a thermal diesel power plant. She highlighted the challenges faced by isolated islands like La Palma regarding electrical supply stability.