'We have almost forgotten what a blackout is': Luxembourg assures grid reliability

Against the backdrop of the unprecedented blackouts that hit Spain and Portugal the other day, a parliamentary debate has erupted in Luxembourg: could a similar catastrophe happen here again? Energy Minister Lex Delles issued a reassuring statement in parliament on Tuesday: "It's unlikely. We have one of the most reliable grids in the world. Luxembourgers have almost forgotten what it means to be without light".

The facts back up what he says, with only one major power failure recorded in the country in 2023.

Nevertheless, Creos recognises that since the Luxembourg network is closely linked to the German (Amprion) and Belgian (Elia) networks, an outage in these countries could affect us too. However, the network architecture - with multiple connection points and a redundancy system - allows for flexible redirection of energy flows, minimising the risks.

In the event of serious incidents, the international System Defence Plan, which operates together with Amprion, comes into play. It helps to limit the scale of disruptions and maintain stability. Creos estimates that despite the increasing complexity of network management, there has been no structural increase in the risk of outages in recent years.

In addition, the country has selective outage plans in place to prioritise the preservation of power to critical facilities such as hospitals, data centres and other strategic structures. Crisis management is the responsibility of the Haut-Commissariat à la protection nationale (HCPN) in close coordination with operators.

Creos also emphasises that most key infrastructures are already equipped with autonomous generators to survive outages without compromising operations.