[Lijahsbubbe]

Yeah right! First the U.S., then London, then Sweden (I believe), now Italy. I'm putting my tin foil on right now.

[Brian S]

MORE...


Italy hit by power outage

A large part of Italy has been hit by a power cut in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The country's civil protection agency said it was still not possible to say how much of Italy was affected or why the blackout.

But the national news agency ANSA quoted the national grid authority as saying the outage was caused by a malfunction of incoming electricity lines from abroad.

The blackout put a sharp end to an all-night party in the capital Rome where over shops, tourist sites, and museums were set to stay open until daybreak.

[Malsua]

Is there any socialist or leftist who isn't a Banana?

"Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone?"

Not enough power...hmmm...what shall we do? Lessee...let's just complain about the USA. After all, they are the root of all problems everywhere.

[jern]

Blackout Across Italy, Police Say




The Associated Press
Sep 28, 2003 : 12:05 am ET

ROME -- Power went out across Italy before dawn Sunday, plunging the nation into darkness, police and news reports said. Authorities did not immediately know the cause.

The first power outages were reported around 4 a.m. local time in Rome, where the city was celebrating an all-night festival with museums and restaurants open around the clock.

Later, the national electricity company ACEA said power was out across the nation, the ANSA news agency said.

"As far as we know it's all across Italy," police official Franca Sesti Miraglia said in Rome.

[jern]

Italian Blackout Cuts Short Rome All-Night Party
50 minutes ago Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo!

ROME (Reuters) - A power cut hit a large part of Italy in the early hours of Sunday morning, the country's civil protection agency


"A large part of the country is in darkness, although as yet it is impossible to quantify how much or why," a spokesman for the civil protection agency told Reuters.


The national grid authority said the blackout was caused by a malfunction of incoming electricity lines from abroad, national new agency ANSA reported.


The blackout put a sharp end to an all night party in the capital Rome where over shops, tourist sites, and museums were set to stay open until daybreak.

[Publius6961]

Just a coincidence.
Nothing to see here.

Move along now.

[Mo1]

Another blackout huh??

Hmmmmm ... makes one wonder

[NormsRevenge]

Italy plunged into darkness during 'White Night'

FRom the Sac Bee

Italy plunged into darkness during 'White Night'

The Associated Press
Last Updated 9:24 p.m. PDT Saturday, September 27, 2003

ROME (AP) - Power went out across Italy before dawn Sunday, plunging the nation into darkness, police and news reports said. Authorities did not immediately know the cause.

The first power outages were reported around 4 a.m. local time in Rome, where the city was celebrating an all-night festival with museums and restaurants open around the clock.

Later, the national electricity company ACEA said power was out across the nation of 57 million, the ANSA news agency said.

"As far as we know it's all across Italy," police official Franca Sesti Miraglia said in Rome.

"We don't know the cause yet," she said.

ANSA said that hundreds of people attending the all-night "White Night" festivities in Rome were stuck in subways due to the blackout. Police could not immediately confirm the report.

"We're not aware of anything really serious. There are some problems," Sesti Miraglia said, without giving details. "With the 'White Night,' there were many people out."

Italy was hit with partial power cuts in June, when people - suffering in the scorching summer - overloaded the system with air conditioners and other electricity-guzzling appliances. That was the first time in more than 20 years that the national operator of the electrical grid ordered power cuts.

Authorities have repeatedly said that power demand is growing faster than supply and that imported electricity would not make up for insufficient production in the long term.

By 6 a.m. local time (midnight EDT) power was still out, and authorities had not yet announced an explanation.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Hmmm... that's interesting, especially in Europe where teh headline would normally read 'Power Cut Hits France' - which is why they whine so much in their irrelevance ;0)

[GirlyGirl2003]

HAHAHA, italy wants a new grid too!!! Will it cost 100 Billion yoo?

[Int]

I submit "electricity" as TIME Magazine's 'Thing of the Year 2003'

[OldFriend]

The BBC in the dark. PERFECT!!

[dep]

folks, i'm starting to see a trend here. first, we have a significant blackout. then the brits do. now, today, italy.

i think what we're witnessing is a series of test runs. we're watching the bad guys poking and probing. these things are not ends unto themselves but preparation for something big. our vulnerabilities are being appraised and our responses measured. it's in preparation for something very big.

and very, very bad.

dep

[Captain Peter Blood]

One thing about the Italians, they will take the blackout in stride, break out the Vino, cheese, bread and candles and party on.

[BurbankKarl]

Italian power cuts point to wider EU problems
By Fred Kapner in Milan, Tobias Buck in Brussels and Robert Graham in Paris
Published: September 28 2003 19:48 | Last Updated: September 28 2003 19:48

Italian authorities' reassurances last month that a New York-style blackout was "impossible" entered the "never say never" record books at 3.25 on Sunday morning.

The entire country, with the exception of the island of Sardinia, lost electric power and the night resounded to the wail of alarms.

Experts called the event a rare exception: in a fluke of nature, storms over the Alps briefly knocked out at least two of the supply lines that enter Italy from France and Switzerland. But the failure, and the very slow recovery of power during the day in the underdeveloped southern regions, underscored several problems inherent to Italy.

But, said French energy officials yesterday, it has also sounded a broader warning on the need for the European Union to improve co-ordination of electricity production to meet increasing demand. Even France, the EU's biggest surplus electricity producer, was obliged this summer to import supplies as a quarter of its 58 nuclear power stations were shut down due to problems associated with drought and a heatwave.

French officials said Italy had long been warned of the need to take measures to reverse its 17 per cent dependence on imported electricity and modernise its grid.

Italy's dependence has grown steadily for the past 30 years because of its failure to build enough new power stations, the result of its poor public administration and a national referendum in 1987 that blocked a nascent nuclear energy programme. Inefficient power plants mean Italians pay over 25 per cent more than the European average for their electricity.

"It was easier and cheaper for Enel [the former state utility monopoly] to buy the nuclear energy from France than to develop its own power generators," said a government official.

Italy's imports grew to 48,400 gigawatt hours in 2001 from less than 1,000 in 1973 - virtually all from France or Switzerland.

"Italy is particularly fragile because of the imports, and the only solution is more generators," said Paolo Scaroni, chief executive of Enel. "That's difficult because of the 'nimby' factor - not in my backyard."

The European Commission said it was "not surprised" by the blackout. A spokesman for Loyola de Palacio, energy policy commissioner, said Italy had long been one of the weakest links in the trans-European power network. Two years ago, a Commission study listed Italy's interconnection capacities with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia as some of the most critical in the EU. The Commission called for more investment.

Italy's political leaders yesterday appeared to spend as much energy blaming each other as tackling the emergency. Antonio Marzano, industry minister, said he had authorised the construction of power plants capable of generating 12,000 megawatts during his two years in office, compared with 1,500MW by the preceding government.

But analysts said only 2,000MW were under construction. "There's no doubt Marzano has accelerated the ability to build at the ministerial level, but that's not enough," said Mr Scaroni.

[BurbankKarl]

this is just a new way for the socialists to get the Italian to have more babies, to fund their pensions, etc.

[ELS]

bump for later reading