Major power outage hits La Palma
A complete blackout struck the entire island of La Palma on Tuesday evening, leaving all 50,000 electricity customers without power for three hours. The outage, which began shortly after 5:30 PM, has since been fully restored, according to utility company Endesa.
Initial investigations revealed that the blackout was caused by a “generation turbine trip” due to a fault or anomaly at the Los Guinchos power station, which brought the island’s electricity supply to zero. Real-time energy demand data from Red Eléctrica showed a dramatic drop from the expected 29 megawatts to just 1.2 megawatts at the time of the incident, before falling to zero minutes later.
Endesa reported that restoration efforts began immediately, with technical teams mobilizing quickly and coordinating with the system operator to restore service within three hours of the initial outage.
Recent history of power problems
This latest incident follows two significant blackouts that occurred in May. The first and most serious took place on May 8th, when a fault at the Los Guinchos substation left approximately one-third of the island’s population without electricity for up to two hours, affecting nearly 20,000 customers. Just four days later, in the early hours of May 12th, another outage occurred when heavy machinery accidentally cut a cable on the runway of the old airport in Breña Alta, causing multiple line trips including those serving Santa Cruz de La Palma 3 and El Mulato.
Canary Islands’ ongoing energy challenges
The Canary Islands have experienced a troubling pattern of partial and complete blackouts in recent years. Between 2019 and 2020, several islands across the archipelago suffered energy outages, and in July 2023, La Gomera experienced a complete blackout due to a fire at the El Palmar thermal power plant.
The scope of these energy problems became clear in November 2024, when the Government of the Canary Islands was required to repay 50 million euros in penalties to electricity companies. These penalties, imposed for total or partial energy blackouts since 2018, had to be returned due to expired processing times for the procedures.
A key factor contributing to these challenges is the archipelago’s unique energy infrastructure. The Canary Islands operate six isolated electricity systems, with only Lanzarote and Fuerteventura interconnected. This means that when one island experiences a blackout, neighboring islands cannot provide backup power support.
Local officials demand immediate action
Following Tuesday’s blackout, Sergio Rodríguez, president of the Cabildo de La Palma, expressed frustration that La Palma continues to be “an island that is not in the first world.” He called on both the central government and the Canary Islands government to take decisive measures to prevent future blackouts.
Rodríguez emphasized that the recent outage was predictable, given the recurring blackouts in recent weeks and the aging infrastructure. He pointed out that the power station is more than 50 years old, calling it “obsolete” and arguing that it hinders the island’s development. The island president has demanded that the state government make necessary investments to modernize the energy infrastructure and has asked the Canary Islands’ Department of Ecological Transition to address La Palma’s energy situation with the same attention given to Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and Fuerteventura.
“La Palma has already suffered too much to continue suffering these situations,” Rodríguez stated, highlighting the impact these recurring power outages have on both residents and visitors to this beautiful Canary Island destination.
