© Emil Helms/Ritzau via AP/TTThe capital Nuuk and a suburb were left without power early on Saturday afternoon
After a comprehensive power outage on Greenland, the power is fully back, announces the national energy company Nukissiorfiit.
Shortly after 5 am on Sunday morning, Nukissiorfiit announced that
two-thirds of Nuuk had regained power. However, citizens who got their power back were urged to conserve their electricity usage. That warning has now been lifted.
According to the energy company,
a fault was found on a power line from a wind turbine in Buksefjorden to Nuuk. The cause of the power outage is still being investigated.The police's landline phones were knocked out during the power outage, and the public service company KNR's broadcasts were down. Extra police patrols were sent out in Nuuk, the suburb Qinngorput, and the village Nuussuaq. Nuuk's hospital was forced to use backup generators.
The police's landline phones were knocked out during the power outage, and the public service company KNR's broadcasts were down. Extra police patrols were sent out in Nuuk, the suburb Qinngorput, and the village Nuussuaq. Nuuk's hospital was forced to use backup generators.
Around 56,500 people live on Greenland.
[From Denmark,
Ekstra Bladet had these additional points:]
28 Dec. 2024
Nuuk is affected by extensive power failures
Greenland Police's landline is temporarily out of service, and KNR cannot broadcast radio as a result of a power failure
The Greenlandic capital, Nuuk, was hit by a power failure on Saturday. This applies, among other things, to the Qinngorput district.
Nukissiorfiit, which is the national utility company in Greenland, wrote this on Facebook at 10.20 local time. [...]
According to Nukissiorfiit, it is an 'accident'. Shortly after 12:30 local time, the utility company wrote that they are still working on solving the problem.
- The fault has been located, and work to restore the power supply to the city is underway, it reads.
It is not clear what the error consists of, or what the time horizon is for the power to be restored.
At 1:50 p.m. local time, Nukissiorfiit wrote on Facebook that the company has to turn off the power temporarily in the entire city because the backup generator at the power plant needs to be started.
[...]
According to the Greenlandic media Sermitsiaq.AG, the telecommunications company Tusass has chosen to switch off the 4G and 5G internet in order to save power, as the blackout drags on.
For the TV and radio station KNR, the power failure means that the network connection is out of order, so that KNR cannot broadcast radio.
In an emergency, the radio must otherwise be used to broadcast emergency messages to the population, writes Sermitsiaq.AG.
Comment:
1) From
Times of India though the outage was longer than 10 hours:
© Times of India
Greenland has recently been in the news, since it is on the list of countries, along with Panama and Canada, that President Elect, Donald Trump would like to see as parts of the US. See also, Best of the Web:
Trump resurrects idea of buying Greenland2) From Greenland there was a
Tweet by @OJoelsen
The national power company in Greenland, Nukissiorfiit, has now found the cause of yesterday's huge power outage in Nuuk.
Nukissiorfiit has today carried out an inspection of the transmission line via helicopter, and has been able to establish that a conductor has come loose on the fjord span over the Ameralikfjorden, which is the cause of the breakdown.
The transmission line is built with an extra conductor, which acts as a reserve should problems arise, and therefore Nukissiorfiit will be able to solve the problem.
Technical Director, Filip Sivertsen comments on the situation:
"The extra conductor on the transmission line, simplifying processes for re-establishing supply via the hydroelectric power plant in Buksefjorden. If wind and weather conditions permit, Nukissiorfiit, with the help of meadow professionals and supervisors from Norway, will be able to carry out the work within a week".
The supply of electricity, water and heat to Nuuk, Nuussuaq and Qinngorput is normal again, and is currently being supplied via the emergency power in Nuuk.
Nukissiorfiit continues to work at high pressure, and would like to thank all citizens for their great understanding and help during the breakdown.
3)
Regarding the above: "
a conductor has come loose on the fjord span over the Ameralikfjorden" Citizen Watch Report carried details that may explain, or at least give a plausible explanation, even if something else was going on:
GREENLAND'S CAPITAL PLUNGES INTO DARKNESS AS TEMPS HIT -27°F December 28, 2024 10:27 pm by CWR
[...]
The power failure has left homes, businesses, and essential services without electricity. While the cause is still under investigation, early reports suggest ice buildup and a severe storm may have damaged power lines. The Buksefjord hydroelectric plant, which powers Nuuk, failed, and restarting it has been nearly impossible due to the harsh weather conditions.
The impact is already being felt — businesses are shut down, and residents are struggling to stay warm. Communication networks are down too, making it difficult for emergency services to coordinate. Kaspar Mondrup, the director of energy at Nukissiorfiit, the company responsible for power, described the situation as highly dramatic.
One of the most concerning aspects is the failure of the backup diesel generators, which hadn't been used in 25 years. They couldn't start, leaving the city without power for longer than expected. This highlights a bigger problem: Greenland's power infrastructure has been neglected. Nukissiorfiit admitted in 2020 that it was only spending 19% of what was needed for maintenance, leaving the grid vulnerable.
[...]
4) Since Greenland has been in the cross hairs, below are more comments on the situation in Greenland:
From Orla Joelsen:
5) To give an idea of what Qupanuk Olsen also is working on, in one
FB post she says that the number of children moved away from their families to care homes is 5-6 times higher than for Danish children, and that many are taken in by Danish families. There are many social problems in Greenland, including domestic violence, but is removing the children according to North European Danish standards necessarily the solution?
6) Regarding her claim, made in the Tweet and news headline, that Denmark will disappear from the World Map when Greenland is removed from the equation, is someone preparing for that to happen. The Sweden Herald carried this article:
Denmark abolishes three crowns after 600 years
Since the time of the Kalmar Union, the symbol of three crowns has been part of Denmark's national coat of arms. Now Denmark is removing the symbol.
» Published: 02 January 2025
On the first day of the year, the Danish royal house presented the country's new coat of arms. This after the new king Frederik X appointed a committee to review the coat of arms shortly after he took the throne last year, writes Göteborgs-Posten.
"The three crowns have been removed from the coat of arms, as they no longer have a current character and are therefore not considered relevant", writes the Danish royal house on its website.
In the new coat of arms, a ram and a bear have instead been given more space, in the absence of the three crowns. [...]
If Greenland leaves or is removed from the Danish Realm, the Polar Bear might go too. The ram is probably an allusion to the Faroe Islands.
7)
Here is one perspective on the intention of the US to incorporate Greenland, from a Tweet by @OJoelsen
8) Greenland independence is a comforting dream which for its existence requires a lack of awareness of history and current global politics. The people in Greenland might be interested to begin a study by investigating how independent the Danish Government has been in its decisions since at least WWII. They might end up being shocked out of a dream!
9) Where is the happy ending after all these comments? We just entered 2025 and here are the fireworks from Nuuk:
I think the natives should punish their Danish officials by abandoning them in the middle of the main island - that frozen desert, I mean. Not unexpectedly, a strong nationalist and anti-colonial sentiment. As almost everywhere amongst the European population.