“The work is being done well, but it takes time because it’s very difficult”, Pedro Carvalho told CNN Portugal, a point he also reiterated in interviews with Observador and SIC Notícias, about the restoration of the national power grid in the aftermath of Storm Kristin, which left over one million homes and businesses without electricity.

Highlighting the extent of the damage, with more than 5000 kilometres of grid in need of repair, the INESC-ID researcher, Energy Transition Thematic Line coordinator and professor at Instituto Superior Técnico, explained the technical and logistic complexity of on-the-ground operations. In the first seven days, around 90% of the grid was restored.

Pedro Carvalho also called for more investment in undergrounding parts of the infrastructure to reduce vulnerabilities to extreme weather events. In Portugal, only 20% of the grid is underground and, according to the researcher, that figure needs to increase significantly to strengthen resilience in the years ahead.

Watch the CNN Portugal clip (in PT): here
Read the full article on Observador (in PT):  here

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