PARIS, Nov 6, 2006 (AFP) - Blackouts across Europe on Saturday demonstrated the fragility of the continent's neglected power production and transport networks, with spikes in heating demand during a cold snap plunging 10 million homes into darkness. The outage "showed clearly that there are weaknesses and shortcomings", French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said on Monday.
The lack of reliability in the continent's power delivery became evident when the failure of two high tension lines in Northern Germany coincided with a surge in high demand. Homes and businesses were left without power in parts of Germany, France, Spain and Italy for up to 30 minutes. "To put it clearly, if there had been more than two lines in northern Germany, there would not have been a blackout," Patrick Larradet, adminstrator of the French electricty distribution network (RTE), told AFP.
