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Italian Govt. Scrambles As Power Returns

Posted on: Monday, 29 September 2003, 06:00 CDT

After the mega-blackout in North America last month, Italy said it couldn't happen here. But it did, and after a day in the dark, authorities Monday were scrambling to ensure that the country, heavily dependent on imported energy, doesn't lose power again.

The blackout Sunday, hitting virtually all of Italy except for Sardinia, was the nation's worst since World War II. Some 55 million people lost power, compared to the 50 million plunged into darkness during the Aug. 14 blackout in the eastern United States and Canada.

Power went down shortly before 3:30 a.m., and parts of the north did get their lights back before many woke up. But in Rome and regions farther south, the power was out for far longer, with some places in Sicily and Puglia, in the "heel" of the peninsula, going as long as 18 hours without lights.

Four accidental deaths were blamed on the blackout, including a 92-year-old woman whose clothing was set ablaze by a candle.

Tens of thousands of travelers whose trains ground to a halt or couldn't depart in the blackout resumed travel on Monday as most of the state railroad system began rolling again.

Checks of the electrical grid were continuing Monday.

The head of Italy's GRTN electrical network, Carlo Andrea Bollino, speaking on state radio, warned citizens there could be a series of planned, localized blackouts of up to 90 minutes throughout the day, as points along the network were tested.

It was Bollino back in August who assured Italians that their nation would not suffer the kind of massive blackout North America did.

"The risk in Italy is tiny," was one of several headlines describing Bollino's assessment last month. Back then, Bollino boasted that Italy's network was more modern than the U.S. one, and that European nations had tighter protocols on assistance and interconnections with other countries' power supplies.

On Monday morning, just what triggered the blackout was still murky.

The Swiss power company Atel said a tree branch was knocked into a Swiss power line during a storm, triggering the problem. But on Monday, an Atel spokesman, Rolf Schmid, insisted that the Italian grid operator did not react correctly to prevent a widespread blackout.

Italian authorities said that the power cut originated in France, which in turn said the responsibility was all Italy's.

Investigations were continuing in both Switzerland and Italy.

Authorities have said initial investigation appeared to eliminate sabotage as a cause.

Bollino, in an interview Monday in Turin daily La Stampa, acknowledged his rosy prediction was wrong, but blamed Italy's situation on its heavy dependence on imported energy - at about 16 percent, the highest in western Europe.

"Our system is more secure than the American one, but it's also more vulnerable," Bollino said.

For 18 months, a bill to build more power plants in Italy has languished in Parliament.

On Sunday, President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, during a ceremony in a dark hall in Naples, decried the resistance posed by many Italians to building power plants.

A few hours later, Productive Activities Minister Antonio Marzano said he would move to put the plant construction bill to a confidence vote to speed up passage. That would link the bill's success to the survival of the governing coalition.

Italians, who in a 1987 referendum voted against using nuclear power, are starting to ponder their energy problem.

"It's only a matter of time before it happens again," said Luca Biagiotti, a theater director who was stranded in Rome by the blackout and was waiting Monday at Rome's main train station to head back to his job in Leghorn, northern Italy.

Italy's main electricity supplier, Enel, can no longer build new plants because of European Union restrictions on utility competition. It now owns half of the power plants. Newer, smaller power companies will have to pick up the slack.

Among the pockets in Italy which didn't lose power were tiny islands like Capri, which, accustomed to being isolated by storms, have their own power supply.

Italy suffered partial power cuts in June, when customers overloaded the system with air conditioners and other appliances during an unusually hot summer. It was the first time in more than 20 years that power cuts were ordered.

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