MILAN, May 28 (Reuters) – The northwestern Italian city of Turin continued to suffer power blackouts on Thursday, with the repeated outages, blamed on the European heatwave, exposing the strain on the local electricity network.
Outages have hit multiple districts in recent days, with road congestion caused by knocked-out traffic lights. Mayor Stefano Lo Russo said the grid required more investment and maintenance.
“Due to the difficult situation, which we are currently managing, there may be service disruptions, including sporadic power outages,” a spokesperson for local utility Iren told Reuters, adding that the city was not at a standstill.
The company, which serves about 650,000 electricity customers in Turin, said the heatwave arrived earlier than expected. Longer daylight hours and high temperatures are putting cables under thermal stress, it added.
In an interview on local radio, Lo Russo said the city’s electricity network was old and that rising temperatures and electricity consumption were exposing its vulnerabilities.
“Maintenance of the networks is planned, but this is a widespread intervention that will take time,” he said.
Iren, which operates electricity, gas, heating, water and waste management across several Italian regions, has launched a €515 million ($598 million) plan through 2030 to modernise Turin’s primary grid. But the timing and increasing frequency of heatwaves are complicating implementation plans.
The Italian Air Force’s weather service forecast a high of 32 degrees Celsius (89.6°F) for Turin on Thursday, as the country experienced its first heatwave of the year.
The municipality has warned residents of the risks posed by high temperatures and has opened public spaces with fans and air conditioning for citizens.
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(Reporting by Giancarlo Navach and Alvise Armellini, writing by Giulia Segreti; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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