A major power outage struck Montenegro, Bosnia, Albania, and most of Croatia's coast on Friday, causing widespread disruption to businesses, shutting down traffic lights, and leaving people without air conditioning amid a heatwave.
According to Montenegro's energy minister, the power outage resulted from a sudden surge in power consumption driven by the extreme heat, which overloaded the systems. Power distribution in the Balkans is interconnected for transfers and trading, adding to the complexity.
"This was just waiting to happen in this heat," commented Gentiana, a 24-year-old student in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, to Reuters. Temperatures soared to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) across the southeastern European region.
Electricity and wifi networks failed around 1 p.m. (1100 GMT), as reported by officials and social media users. By mid-afternoon, power suppliers in the affected countries began restoring electricity, and by the evening, power was largely back online.
The initial phase of the blackout caused traffic light failures, resulting in gridlock in Bosnia's capital Sarajevo, as well as in the cities of Banja Luka and Mostar, according to Reuters reporters.
In Podgorica, many residents lost access to water because pumps stopped working, and air conditioners shut down, causing discomfort. Tourist shops reported that their ice cream stocks melted.
In the Croatian coastal city of Split, cars came to a standstill, state TV HRT reported. The sound of ambulance sirens echoed throughout the city.
Montenegro's energy minister, Sasa Mujovic, explained on television that the power failure occurred due to a heavy load on the network caused by both the sudden increase in power consumption and the high temperatures themselves. Experts were still working to identify the origin of the malfunction.
Reports from Montenegro's Vijesti TV indicated that a fire was spotted in a 400KW transmission line in a rugged area along the border with Bosnia. However, it was not immediately clear if this fire was related to the power outages. The report cited unnamed sources from the electric transmission company CGES, suggesting that helicopters might be needed to access the site.
Albanian Energy Minister Belinda Balluku noted that a breakdown occurred in an interconnector between Albania and Greece, and similar issues were reported in Montenegro, Croatia, and Bosnia. In a video address, Balluku stated that while power was restored in Albania within half an hour, the country remained at high risk of further outages due to ongoing high power usage and temperatures.Â
Industry officials mentioned that shifts in the region's energy supplies have strained its transmission systems. Western Balkan nations have seen significant investment in solar energy to mitigate a power crisis and reduce reliance on coal. However, the infrastructure is not fully prepared for these new energy feeds, as highlighted by the president of North Macedonia's Energy Regulatory Commission and other industry experts in an interview with Reuters last year.
