Italy in the dark!!!!

Giovanni Wine · September 28, 2003, 05:41

Yerstuday night at about 3:30 when I was in the disco the power went down. At first we all waited a few minutes and then we all went out of the club (strangely enough there were no beating and pushing, despite the fact we were about 1-2 thousand yound teenagers trying to get out a dark disco)

The disco is not exactly in the city but is a little out on one of the many hills sorrounding Torino.

When I was finally out I saw the whole city dark... you could tell there was a city only because there was a huge river of car running around the streets.

Me and my friends immediatly go in my car, I bring them home and then go home myself.

This morning I wake up and discover that the whole of Italy (with the exception of Sardinia) were without electricity... and some regions in the south still are.

The TV news said there was a malfunction in the connection between Italy and France (Italy buys about 20% of its electricity from France) and when they tried to activate a second line that was meant to serve as a back up, that line went down again.

Power was up here at around 7 that means we had only about 3-4 hours of black out, but some cities are still without electricity (and some other even without water because of the fact that the pumps and the "things that clean water" are not working).

Always according to the TV News there were no problems and no alarms caused by the black-out

As always the TV said that we should try not to use too much electricity, stop using this, stop using that etc etc... But now I wonder, since the average Italian already daily about half the electricity that a Swede use (they said it on TV), since we are buying 20% of our electicity from France (and this means that whenever there will be problems in France, it will be Italy to be in the dark).

Why can't we just build some other plants?

Saluti

BeBro · September 28, 2003, 05:46

Hope power is soon restored everywhere.

Any news about the cause?

Giovanni Wine · September 28, 2003, 05:51

Quote:

Originally posted by BeBro
Hope power is soon restored everywhere.

Any news about the cause?

According to the latest news it was a malfunction (probably caused by bad weather conditions) in the lines that bring power from France to Italy. But the sad thing is that when the first line, also the back-up line went down... causing a chain of failures that locked electricity exchange also between Italy and Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia... basically isolating Italy from the rest of Europe.

But it is still unclear what exactly happened to the first line, and why didn't the back-up lines did not work.

Saluti

Skanky Burns · September 28, 2003, 05:52

Hey, at least you have power now.

Starchild · September 28, 2003, 05:52

With North America, central London, and now Italy going black within less then two months, I think it's a big sign saying the electricity grid might NEED SOME UPDATING.

Giovanni Wine · September 28, 2003, 05:53

Quote:

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
Hey, at least you have power now.

lol... probably I'm the reason power went down

Saluti

Datajack Franit · September 28, 2003, 05:59

That's good! More newborn babies in the next 9 months! Maybe Giovanni is upset because he hadn't a part in this big plan

Giovanni Wine · September 28, 2003, 06:07

Quote:

Originally posted by Datajack Franit
That's good! More newborn babies in the next 9 months! Maybe Giovanni is upset because he hadn't a part in this big plan

I must admit last night I was really unlucky with girls

....

*Giovanni Wine thinks: Why am I laughing?... there is nothing to laugh about not getting girls on a saturday night

Saluti

Henrik · September 28, 2003, 07:15

Quote:

Originally posted by Starchild
With North America, central London, and now Italy going black within less then two months, I think it's a big sign saying the electricity grid might NEED SOME UPDATING.

Not to mention all of southern Sweden (the part where 2/3s of the pop lives)+Copenhagen last week.

laurentius · September 28, 2003, 07:19

And Helsinki about a month ago

Zopperoni · September 28, 2003, 07:20

Ah, you can blame the French. Good.

Drake Tungsten · September 28, 2003, 07:53

Quote:

Ah, you can blame the French. Good.

There's nothing sweeter.

Dis · September 28, 2003, 14:25

Damn those pesky french.

Dis · September 28, 2003, 15:19

I think it is time to turn up the conspiracy theory meter.

Italy is a strong supporter of the U.S.'s war on terrorism.

I think it is safe to say terrorists were responsible for both of these blackouts.

mrmitchell · September 28, 2003, 15:23

No, Diss, the conspiracy meter is where the US uses stolen alien technology to alert Future Chirac that Italy isn't paying its power bills

You described the PARANOIA meter AFAIK.

However, yes, the power grid needs some serious updating.

Provost Harrison · September 28, 2003, 15:48

Here is a picture of this emergency:

yaroslav · September 28, 2003, 17:27

As far as I know, the blackout started after a tree fell and broke a power line in Swizterland, then the failure extended to France and in only 4 seconds to all the whole Italy...

VetLegion · September 28, 2003, 17:32

And what plants would Italy build? Nobody wants more nukes, coal is bad for tourism, oil is probably out of the question because of oscilating price... this leaves natural gas which is much better used for home use.

By the way, there are natural gas fields in Croatian part of north Adriatic which Croatia and Italy are jointly developing. In a couple of years pipeline to Italy should be complete. Croatian project will lag behind though.

Anyway, this reminded me, during the war, there were frequent power outages here with reductions between them. So everyone is pretty much cool about lossing power for a couple hours now.

I reckon some heads will fly in Italy though?

Also, doesn't Italy have a cable link to Greece? Did they send some power now when you needed it?

Az · September 28, 2003, 17:38

Why is coal bad? there are some pretty good particle filters these days...

I hope they build another one of those in Israel, and not the gas one.

Datajack Franit · September 28, 2003, 17:41

This will teach those stupid greens that either they give us nuclear power plants or we'll have such shortages every month

Az · September 28, 2003, 17:44

"No! Don't you know that you can recycle cow **** instead?"

SlowwHand · September 28, 2003, 17:45

28th September 2003 04:43 PM

1 hour, 42 minutes ago

BHUBANESWAR, India (AFP) - Five people were injured and two houses gutted when a meteorite crashed to earth in eastern India after panicking hundreds of villagers as it shot across the sky, reports and residents said.

The meteorite crashed Saturday in a remote village near the Bay of Bengal in the state of Orissa, local media said, adding five people were sent to hospital with injuries.

The provincial revenue minister, Biswa Bhusan Harichandan, said authorities were waiting for more concrete information about damages or casualties.

The meteorite lit up the sky and caused windows to rattle as passed overhead, sending hundreds of people rushing outside unsure what was happening, a resident of Kendrapara town said by telephone.

"It was all there for just a few seconds but it was like daylight everywhere," he said.

Scientists plan to study the remains of the meteorite.

"Such celestial occurrences are common in space but not visible to the naked eye. This is a rare phenomenon in this region," said Jaydev Kar, a scientist at the Pathani Samant Planetorium in Orissa's capital Bhubaneswar.

Provost Harrison · September 28, 2003, 17:54

The button you are after Slow is 'New Thread' not 'Post Reply'

SlowwHand · September 28, 2003, 17:59

I can't make new threads until Wednesday.
Both stories have to do with dark, so I figured, WTF.

VetLegion · September 28, 2003, 18:00

Quote:

Originally posted by Azazel
"No! Don't you know that you can recycle cow **** instead?"

Datajack:

Quote:

This will teach those stupid greens that either they give us nuclear power plants or we'll have such shortages every month

If you do, please build it on the west side of your peninsula, or even better, somwhere in Sicily. Thanks much!

Datajack Franit · September 28, 2003, 18:08

LOL

Ned · September 28, 2003, 18:11

I suppose the enemy of construction of new power plants and transmission lines in Italy are the leftist parties, just as they are here in the United States. A large part of the anger here in California against Davis is because everyone here knows the left is the cause of our power problems. One can keep up this anti-capitalist program only so long. In the end, the infrastructure will collapse. It looks like Europe is now feeling the effects of leftist politics.

The Mad Monk · September 29, 2003, 00:52

How's the power situation there now?

alva · September 29, 2003, 01:58

Perhaps Berlusconi wanted to prevent the RAI from critisizing him???

Ah wait, he's emperor allready isn't he

Giovanni Wine · September 29, 2003, 04:47

Quote:

Originally posted by Ned
I suppose the enemy of construction of new power plants and transmission lines in Italy are the leftist parties, just as they are here in the United States. A large part of the anger here in California against Davis is because everyone here knows the left is the cause of our power problems. One can keep up this anti-capitalist program only so long. In the end, the infrastructure will collapse. It looks like Europe is now feeling the effects of leftist politics.

Uhm... I should tell this to Berlusconi, maybe he will give me a place in his cabinet as minister of... ehr... boh?

Quote:

Originally posted by The Mad Monk

How's the power situation there now?

Power is back everywhere. I think the emergency was handled pretty good this time.

Quote:

Originally posted by VetLegion

And what plants would Italy build? Nobody wants more nukes, coal is bad for tourism, oil is probably out of the question because of oscilating price... this leaves natural gas which is much better used for home use.

Problem is, we can not even build new plants. Because ENEL, which is our biggest electricity company can not build new ones, or it would break the 50% rule set by the anti-trust laws, and the other companies don't have the resources to build them. So we are forced to import electricity from France, we import something like 20% of our total energy (and that's way too much, especially considering that the 2nd largest importer: Spain, only imports 3% of its total electricity).

Quote:

Originally posted by alva

Ah wait, he's emperor allready isn't he

*Giovanni wine sees Berlusconi on TV

Saluti