Power grid failure leaves some 160,000 customers in Tenerife without electricity for 27 minutes

Two 220 kV circuits in southern Tenerife, Granadilla-Vallitos and Vallitos-Abona, were disconnected at 08:24 on Sunday, November 1, as a result of the storm, together with a significant share of generation at the Granadilla power plant, according to Red Eléctrica as cited by Europa Press in elDiario.es. Some 140 megawatts were lost in the Tenerife-La Gomera system.

Supply was restored at 08:51, after “all available generation” was activated, including emergency generation, according to Red Eléctrica. The outage also affected La Gomera, according to the Canary Islands 112 emergency service as cited by Diario de Avisos.

Figures for those affected do not match. ElDiario.es reports some 160,000 homes and RTVC some 160,000 customers according to initial data; Diario de Avisos puts the number of subscribers without power at some 180,000, according to Red Eléctrica and the Tenerife Island Council (Cabildo). Endesa sources told RTVC that it was apparently “a Red Eléctrica failure”.

The outage coincided with Sunday's rain, during which the 112 Emergency Coordination Center recorded nearly fifty incidents in the Canary Islands since midnight, mostly landslides and water pumping, according to Diario de Avisos and elDiario.es. Red Eléctrica has not issued its own statement detailing the fault.