A power blackout affected the southern Cyclades islands of Folegandros, Ios and Sikinos on Thursday evening, which was a public holiday in the country and the traditional height of the annual holiday season, with electricity restored hours later. The outage began after dusk, according to reports.
The trio of islands are usually packed with holiday-makers and visitors this time of year.
According to the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator S.A. (HEDNO), the state-affiliated electricity distribution network in the country, power returned in the morning.
All three of the islands are linked with a medium-voltage undersea power line from the larger Cyclades island of Paros. The latter is linked to the mainland grid through a power cable installed by the Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO), the transmission system operator of Greece’s electricity transmission system.
Reports have the blackout problem centering on the inter-island undersea link, and not IPTO’s mainland cable.
The power outage lasted for roughly 12 hours, according to reports, with electricity coming back online in the late morning.
Most of Greece’s islands have been connected via local medium-voltage undersea power cables or with the mainland grid via high-voltage lines, replacing on site power stations that operated on diesel fuel in past decades.
