La Palma, in the Canary Islands, has faced a significant power outage this Tuesday afternoon, impacting more than fifty thousand users. Electricity supply was disrupted for two hours after a failure at the Los Guinchos power plant, according to Endesa. In response to the situation, the Canary Islands Government activated the Emergency Plan to manage the crisis, despite no major incidents reported.

The power failure occurred at five thirty-two local time due to the shutdown of generation turbines, plunging the island into a complete power outage. The Red Eléctrica reported that energy demand briefly fell to one point two megawatts, a significant drop from the anticipated demand. Recovery efforts began immediately, and partial service has been restored in some areas with around fifty percent of the total demand now back online.

Jonathan Lorenzo, the mayor of Breña Alta, where the power plant is located, has indicated that recovery efforts are ongoing, but the precise timeline for full restoration remains unclear. Recovery in Santa Cruz de La Palma, the island’s capital, includes the restarting of local businesses and traffic signals.

The president of the Cabildo de La Palma, Sergio Rodríguez, expressed concerns about the aging infrastructure on the island, calling for the central government to invest in modernising energy systems to prevent future outages. He highlighted the need for La Palma to transition to a more sustainable energy framework, arguing that the current power plant is over fifty years old and no longer sufficient to meet the island’s needs.