The director of Institutional Relations and Technological Innovation of Endesa in the Canary Islands, José Manuel Valle, has branded this Wednesday as “unjustified” and “irrational” the fine of 16 million euros imposed by the Government of the Canary Islands on E-Distribución Redes Digitales, SLU, and Unión Eléctrica de Canarias Generación, SAU, both belonging to Endesa, for the zero energy of Tenerife in July 2020which left nearly a million people without power for nine hours.
In an interview given to Canary Island has announced that the company is going to appeal the sanction while criticizing that the regional government “has become very demanding” and with demands that “are disproportionate” in relation to what happens on other islands when there are similar cases.
Valle has commented that these events “occur on all the islands of the world”, in which they are not sanctioned in this way “for unforeseen failures” I only know if he warns of “neglect and bad practices”.
He also pointed out that “it is not so easy for the electricity to go out” in the Archipelago, although it is known that “there are places more exposed due to salinity”, and for this reason work is being done so that the quality of the service “is better”. However, he has remarked that the supply quality indicators in the Canary Islands, “except for specific events, are among the best in Spain”.
On April 7, the Government Council of the Canary Islands approved the decree that resolved the sanctioning procedure initiated against E-Distribución Redes Digitales, SLU, and Unión Eléctrica de Canarias Generación, SAU, both belonging to Endesa, by the commission of very serious administrative infractions provided for in Law 24/2013, of December 26, on the electricity sector, proposing a total fine of 16 million euros for the energy zero that took place in July 2020 in Tenerife.
A fine of six million was established for the first entity and ten million for the second for the incident that began on July 15, 2020 at 9:41 a.m. in the Tenerife electrical system, which caused an energy zero throughout the island without being able to recover full supply until 4:44 p.m.
Blackout Incidents
Members of the island’s Fire Brigade Consortium carried out technical assistance trips after the blackout in different municipalities mainly related to elevators, while the Local Police regulated traffic due to the interruption of traffic lights and the chaos that this caused.
The Metropolitan Tram was also stopped and the occupants had to be evacuated by firefighters.