Libya plunges into darkness... due to a sudden collapse of the electricity grid
Written by: Ayman Ragab
Most areas of Libya experienced widespread power outages on Friday evening, following the sudden shutdown of several strategic power generation stations, which resulted in the network losing about 1350 megawatts of production capacity and the complete collapse of the network frequency.
The power outage coincided with warnings issued by the Ministry of Environment about a significant rise in temperatures along the Libyan coast during the current week.
Temperatures exceed 42 degrees.
The ministry predicted that temperatures would exceed 42 degrees Celsius in some areas, calling for increased preparedness to confront the potential risks of forest fires.
The spokesman for the Ministry of Electricity, Rabie Khalifa, explained that the collapse was due to a sudden disconnection in the 400-kilovolt transmission line, which connects the Misrata and Khoms power stations.
He pointed out that this separation led to a reverse flow of energy that was directed towards the western grid with a load of 350 megawatts, which caused a successive outage of the main generating units, most notably the Gulf and Misrata stations.
Khalifa added that the Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Awad Al-Badri, held intensive talks with officials in Egypt, which resulted in an agreement to utilize the joint electrical interconnection lines between the two countries, with the aim of supporting the network with the energy needed to recharge the main stations and gradually bring the Libyan generating units into service.
Gradual network rebuilding
The Ministry of Electricity confirmed in a statement that the technical teams of the Operation and Control Sector have entered a state of full alert around the clock, explaining that the energy supplies have already begun to flow through the electrical interconnection line with Egypt.
The specialized teams are continuing to work on gradually rebuilding the network and restoring power to all affected cities and areas as quickly as possible.
For its part, the Great Man-Made River Project Authority announced that its facilities were affected by the power outage, explaining that the power was cut off to the well fields in the Sarir and Tazerbo regions, in addition to the water pumping station in the city of Benghazi.
The agency indicated that electricity began to return gradually starting this morning, but explained that it had to reduce water supplies to some cities and agricultural projects, with the aim of “preventing the main system line from being emptied of water and collecting a sufficient water stock in the collection and balancing reservoir in Ajdabiya.”.
