The cable car in Haifa got stuck due to a power outage. December 26, 2022 (<> Bulletin Spokesman)
IEC CEO Meir Spiegler spoke Sunday morning in an interview with 103FM about the prolonged power outages that took place across the country on Friday. This was due to the heavy heat that led to increased electricity consumption: "I very much hope that we will learn from what happened over the weekend and not repeat mistakes. In the end, the IEC is an executing factor, and we receive instructions. Two power generation units were not activated because we were not instructed to operate them. I don't run what I want," he said.
The responsibility for the power failure was placed on Noga, which manages the electricity system in Israel. "The IEC is actually the execution contractor as a result of the reform carried out by Noga. They give us instructions to operate power generation stations - when, how much and to what extent. We had two units that we were not asked to operate: one in Hadera and one in Ashkelon. If they were both working, we wouldn't have to do the power outages."
"Before the reform, the Israel Electric Corporation had a unit that estimated the electricity that would be required even in extreme times. They just expropriated it from the electric company, set up a new company, and we see the rest every single day," he added.
"I very much hope that we will learn from what happened over the weekend and not repeat mistakes," Meir Spiegler (Photo: Avi Rokach)
On Friday, a senior official in Israel's electricity sector referred to the outages and also attributed them to the allegedly tied hands of the Israel Electric Corporation. "The Rotenberg station in Ashkelon has been shut down because of the crane disaster for several months, Reading was completely shut down a year ago and the reservoir-pumping station in the north, which is managed by a faulty private company," he said. The official, who spoke to Walla!, claimed that "they're just the promo for what's in store for us in the summer."
Spiegler said in the interview that IEC and Noga are drawing lessons from Friday's events: "We are in regular contact with Noga. Conversations and data exchanges were made. They simply did not have a good assessment of the consumption that will be by the residents of the State of Israel on Friday and Saturday."
Last Friday, the National Weather Service reported record temperatures for June. Beit Dagan measured 43.8 degrees Celsius with the previous record of 43.7 degrees, and in the Negba 43.7 degrees Celsius with the previous record of 43.2 degrees. About 300 fires broke out in open areas throughout the country, and only after about 12 hours was the fire in the open areas declared.
The Israel Electric Corporation reported power outages in several locations throughout the country, including Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva and Bnei Brak. "Due to the extreme weather, electricity consumption throughout the country is abnormal and causes strain on the system," said Noga Electricity System Management. "The congestion is caused, among other things, by the high demand for electricity, a gradual decline in electricity production from renewable energies as the sun falls, and malfunctions in power plants due to the heat load."
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