Cruise Talk: Black out in Europe - due to Norwegian Pearl transfer?

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»	Cruise Talk » Technically Speaking » Black out in Europe - due to Norwegian Pearl transfer?

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Topic: Black out in Europe - due to Norwegian Pearl transfer?

Ernst
First Class Passenger
Member # 5369

posted 11-05-2006 10:20 AM

Parts of Europe have been without electricity - a possible cause might have been the power line which has been switched off for the Ems passage of the Norwegian Pearl. Has anoyone more detailed information?

Posts: 9746 | From: Eindhoven | Registered: Jan 2005 | IP: Logged

Tom Burke
First Class Passenger
Member # 5238

posted 11-05-2006 12:02 PM

Yes! I wouldn't have believed it, but that is indeed what the BBC is saying (although they aren't identifying the ship or the river). It's expressed as 'may have been due to...'

Here's a link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6117880.stm

Posts: 1469 | From: Sheffield, UK | Registered: Dec 2004 | IP: Logged

Cunard Fan
First Class Passenger
Member # 7530

posted 11-05-2006 08:19 PM

I don't get it, why would the ship cause power failer

Posts: 2327 | From: Pasadena just north of Queen Mary | Registered: Sep 2006 | IP: Logged

Ernst
First Class Passenger
Member # 5369

posted 11-05-2006 08:25 PM

To allow a safe passage of the new Norwegian Pearl on her way to the open sea a power line had to be switched off. There is the suspicion that this contributed to the collapse of the power grid. (Altough it has already been said that this alone probably is not necessarily enough to explain this collapse)
Electrical power grids are delicate - one has to 'feed in' precisely the amount of 'electricity' as 'consumed' - a disturbance can cause the whole grid to 'black out'.

Posts: 9746 | From: Eindhoven | Registered: Jan 2005 | IP: Logged

PamM
First Class Passenger
Member # 2127

posted 11-06-2006 03:21 AM

It may well have just been a coincidence that the power line over the Ems was switched off.. further reports are along the lines of an extreme power surge due to the cold weather with 2 major lines failing causing the auto systems to re-route supplies, sending supplies through lines which tripped because they couldn't handle the excess, hence the pack of cards scenario.

Power lines are switched off for one reason or another every day; it seems unlikely a single line across the Ems could cause such a mess.. more likely just one thing along with many others which all happened at the same time. Maybe reports later on today will add more details.

Pam

Posts: 12176 | From: Cambridge, UK | Registered: Jun 2001 | IP: Logged

Johan
First Class Passenger
Member # 4458

posted 11-06-2006 03:39 AM

I was one of the (apparently) many whose power failed sometime about 22.20 hrs last saturday night.
I live on the left bank of the river scheldt in Antwerpen : there was light on the right bank, but all of the left bank, as far as I could see deep in the hinterland (I live on the 16th floor) was dark...including the motorway lighting..quite eerie. ...behind some windows you could see a candle.

The dependence on electricity is great, and the realisation of this unnerving.

Power came back after some 35 minutes.

LAst night on the news they showed the Norwegian Pearl, and it was said that the disconnection of some pylons over the River Ems caused an overflow on other lines, which had its effects on the whole of europe.

It was also said that the cities and region were the power failed were not accidently chosen, but "prewired" (so to say). These are said to have some special "safety" procedures, otherwise the powercut would have been on the whole of europe, and now contained to various parts.

Posts: 1895 | From: Antwerpen, Belgium | Registered: Feb 2004 | IP: Logged

Onno
First Class Passenger
Member # 3071

posted 11-06-2006 06:50 AM

Here in Eindhoven and neighboring villages we also experienced a brief power failure, only lasted for 10 minutes.

Onno

Posts: 3583 | From: the Netherlands (Berenbotje ging uit varen...) | Registered: May 2002 | IP: Logged

PamM
First Class Passenger
Member # 2127

posted 11-07-2006 03:51 AM

E.on have now admitted is was indeed the shut down of this single line which caused the problem. Incredible really. It shouldn't have happened and has at least prompted some sort of a review into making sure there isn't a re-occurrence.

Pam

Posts: 12176 | From: Cambridge, UK | Registered: Jun 2001 | IP: Logged

Globaliser
First Class Passenger
Member # 4153

posted 11-07-2006 05:04 AM

quote:
Originally posted by PamM:
E.on have now admitted is was indeed the shut down of this single line which caused the problem. Incredible really. It shouldn't have happened and has at least prompted some sort of a review into making sure there isn't a re-occurrence.

Although that's always what power companies say when something like this happens. It'll keep on happening from time to time, all over the place - when complex networks are under strain, the effects of doing something apparently simple are not always predictable. It's the sort of situation for which chaos theory was invented.

Posts: 1869 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2003 | IP: Logged

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