Athens blackout bolsters concerns about Olympics

[MKSheppard]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national ... -9708r.htm

Athens blackout bolsters concerns about Olympics

By Patrick Quinn
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATHENS — The worst blackout in more than a decade hit Athens and southern Greece yesterday, leaving millions sweltering in a heat wave and raising concerns about whether the lights will go out at next month's Olympics.

The government blamed the outage on "mismanagement" of the electricity grid, and officials promised that the network was ready to handle the Aug. 13 to 29 Olympics.

It was yet another hurdle in Athens' attempt to convince the world that it is ready to host well-run and safe games. Olympics preparations have come under criticism because of construction delays and concerns over security arrangements to stop terror attacks.

The blackout, which lasted for up to four hours in some areas, knocked out air conditioners as afternoon temperatures soared to 104 degrees.

In one embarrassing moment for the government, Transport Minister Mihalis Liapis was making a test run to showcase a new Olympic rail link from central Athens to the airport — and got stranded en route when the power failed.

Government officials said generators had to be pressed into service at Olympic venues.

The domino-effect outages were traced to an unbalanced flow of electricity that shut down four power-generating stations, according to a senior government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Greece's Public Power Corp. did not explain what caused the blackout, saying only that it had knocked out four major plants. The company — an Olympic sponsor — blamed the state-owned grid operator for the outage.

Others members of the Greek government flooded the press with pledges that the Olympics are in no danger of going dark.

There was more than enough power for a "smooth and uninterrupted" flow of electricity to the whole country during the Olympics, Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas said.

He also noted that five additional electrical substations plan to go into operation next month to lower the chances of power spikes and widespread blackouts. Substations are electrical facilities where the voltage of incoming circuits is controlled and the current is distributed to other lines.

The Athens Olympic Organizing Committee, meanwhile, gave assurances that generators would allow the games to proceed even if there's another big outage. Athens is home to nearly 5 million people, and
an estimated 2 million more are expected in Greece this August.

"A similar incident would not affect the competition schedule and the broadcasting of the games," the committee said of the outage.

The blackout began at 12:39 p.m. in Athens and quickly spread.

Outages were reported as far as Larissa, 155 miles north of Athens, and the port of Kalamata, 175 miles to the south. It also included some islands in the Aegean and Ionian seas.

Power was restored to 70 percent of the region in about an hour and to all of Athens in a little more than three hours. Remote areas were affected longer.

The blackout created enormous traffic jams from failed traffic signals and stalled electric trolleys. Hundreds of passengers on the Athens subway were forced to leave the trains and walk to nearby stations.

The fire department said it received hundreds of calls about people trapped in elevators.

It initially was thought that the power outage was because of increased demand in air-conditioner usage because of the heat, the chief cause for most blackouts in Greece. Last summer, Athens was left without power for several hours because of increased air-conditioner use.

"The cut was not due to a lack of power," Mr. Sioufas said, "but mainly due to mismanagement of the high-voltage grid."

July is traditionally the hottest month in Greece, with highs often hitting 104. The Greek weather service said average highs in Athens next month should be about 90.

The power company has been maintaining high water reserves for its hydroelectric plants and plans to buy extra electricity from neighboring Bulgaria if needed during the games.

It also has a plan to redistribute power from the provinces to Athens — an action that was taken yesterday.

[Joe]

Good to know.

[Crown]

Good to know.

You can't seriously be suggesting that a 3hr blackout (45min in Central Athens its self) is something so incredibly rare during a heat wave that it doesn't happen in other cities under similar circumstances are you?

And remember the Olympic venues/media centres have their own generators.

[Gandalf]

We had the occasional blackout leading up to the Olympics.

We were ok.

[Joe]

Good to know.

You can't seriously be suggesting that a 3hr blackout (45min in Central Athens its self) is something so incredibly rare during a heat wave that it doesn't happen in other cities under similar circumstances are you?

And remember the Olympic venues/media centres have their own generators.

You got that from "Good to know"?

[Crown]

Good to know.

You can't seriously be suggesting that a 3hr blackout (45min in Central Athens its self) is something so incredibly rare during a heat wave that it doesn't happen in other cities under similar circumstances are you?

And remember the Olympic venues/media centres have their own generators.

You got that from "Good to know"?

Yes, that's why I asked a question

[Sarevok]

As Simcity 3000 would say build more powerplants. I only wish real coal powerplants costed only $5000.

[The Kernel]

You can't seriously be suggesting that a 3hr blackout (45min in Central Athens its self) is something so incredibly rare during a heat wave that it doesn't happen in other cities under similar circumstances are you?

According to the Greeks themselves, the blackout was caused by poor management of the power grid.

And remember the Olympic venues/media centres have their own generators.

If you think a power failure isn't going to affect the Olympics, you are kidding yourself. Did you miss the fact that the Olympic rail was stopped dead because of the failure?

[Crown]

According to the Greeks themselves, the blackout was caused by poor management of the power grid.

Sorry was reading the BBC story on it (thought it was the same), which at this point still hasn't laid the blame one way or the other.

If you think a power failure isn't going to affect the Olympics, you are kidding yourself. Did you miss the fact that the Olympic rail was stopped dead because of the failure?

Yeah on the day the Transport Minister was riding the train to an Olympic venue no less ... um a powerout will certainly cause hassels for spectators traveling to and from venues, but not Olympic participants (except of course volenteers), unless you believe they will be traveling on the metro.

[The Kernel]

Yeah on the day the Transport Minister was riding the train to an Olympic venue no less ... um a powerout will certainly cause hassels for spectators traveling to and from venues, but not Olympic participants (except of course volenteers), unless you believe they will be traveling on the metro.

It will also cause hassels for security and support personal who rely on those methods of transportation to get to their jobs. I'm not saying that it's impossible, just that a power failure is going to add to the already huge problems of the 2004 Olympics.

[Crown]

Yeah on the day the Transport Minister was riding the train to an Olympic venue no less ... um a powerout will certainly cause hassels for spectators traveling to and from venues, but not Olympic participants (except of course volenteers), unless you believe they will be traveling on the metro.

It will also cause hassels for security and support personal who rely on those methods of transportation to get to their jobs. I'm not saying that it's impossible, just that a power failure is going to add to the already huge problems of the 2004 Olympics.

Fair enough.

[Chris OFarrell]

We had the occasional blackout leading up to the Olympics.

We were ok.

Eh? I recall there were some power outages at the Olypmic site itself (not THIS close to the event, I'm talking a year before) during the construction phase that were a possibility.

But we never had anything like THIS kinda of a cluster fuck.

[Howedar]

And the entire US Northeast (and some of Canada) got nixed for a goodly time. I don't see anyone saying that the US couldn't host an Olympic games.

Athens is looking like a clusterfuck to me, but I don't see this particular incident as special.

[Col. Crackpot]

And the entire US Northeast (and some of Canada) got nixed for a goodly time. I don't see anyone saying that the US couldn't host an Olympic games.

Athens is looking like a clusterfuck to me, but I don't see this particular incident as special.

which happened once in 30 years. this is par for the course in Greece.

[Vympel]

which happened once in 30 years. this is par for the course in Greece.

It is?

[Col. Crackpot]

which happened once in 30 years. this is par for the course in Greece.

It is?

well, perhaps i overstated the problem. Although the Greek power system is not as reliable as its North American counterpart.

[Howedar]

Feel free to present evidence.

[The Kernel]

Feel free to present evidence.

Greece's power consumption has been growing at an enormous rate and because of poor administration and long lead times on new plant construction, they are dangerously close to limits of their ability to produce power. Greek authorities were concerned even before this incident that Greece did not have the power plants necessary to support the Olympic Games.