By Rannveig Loken, Norway
United Kingdom, Nottinghamshire, 3 March 2026
A man was arrested after 1,700 metres of cable were ripped out from under the highway in Nottinghamshire. Officers had been on patrol due to a spate of high-value copper cable thefts in the area in recent weeks. The techniques used to extract the copper cabling in these thefts are very dangerous and can also lead to costly power outages.
USA, Michigan, March 7, 2026
Tornadoes and strong storms killed at least four people and injured more than a dozen leaving hundreds of residents without power. Buildings and cars were smashed, multiple utility poles were down, transformers were damaged, and long stretches of power lines was on the ground due to the tornado.
Finland-Sweden, March 10, 2026
An undersea power cable linking Finland and Sweden suffered an unexpected outage due to a technical fault, but there were no indications of sabotage. The outage on the 800 (MW) Fenno-Skan 2 interconnector appeared to have been caused by a malfunction at a substation and lasted around 18 hours.
USA, March 13, 2026
Storms cut power to over 1 million customers as severe storms battered the U.S. Midwest and Mid-Atlantic region. The hardest-hit state was Ohio, with around 598,000 outages.
USA, March 16, 2026
More than 536,000 homes and businesses were without power as severe storms battered the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic region. Pennsylvania was the hardest hit, with about 125,000 outages.
Cuba, Havana, March 16, 2026
Cuba’s national electric grid collapsed leaving around 10 million people without power. Cubans have grown accustomed to power outages, whether tied to the oil supply shortfalls or systemic failures in the grid, which can also be the result of depressed power generation.
United Kingdom, 16 March 2026
A burglar, who posed as a workman, dressed in high visibility clothing, broke into several electricity substations. The incidents resulted in power outages and electrical damage to householders’ property, and cost businesses more than £220,000. Bolt croppers, metal cutters and several large batteries were found at his property. He is jailed for nearly three years.
Australia, March 21, 2026
Tropical Cyclone Narelle hit Australia’s Northern Territory bringing destructive winds, up to 185 kph, heavy rain and power outages to the country’s northeast coast.
Cuba, Havana, March 22, 2026
Cuba restored power to nearly half of the capital Havana less than 24 hours after the national grid collapsed for the second time in a week. The grid failed after a major power plant in Nuevitas tripped, causing a cascade effect that knocked out power to the nation’s approximately 10 million people. Cuba has experienced a series of total outages in recent years, but two nationwide blackouts in the space of a week is exceptional.
Ukraine, Chernihiv. March 25, 2026
Russian attacks damaged two energy facilities in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region, leaving close to 212,000 consumers without power. Critical infrastructure was switched to backup power supplies.
Australia, March 29, 2026
Australia’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) production was disrupted, and thousands were without power more than a week after the Narelle storm system hit the country. Gorgon is Australia’s largest LNG export facility, producing 15.6 million metric tons a year with three processing trains, while Wheatstone has two trains producing 8.9 million tons.
Indonesia. 2 April 2026
A 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck in the Molucca Sea off Indonesia, killing at least one person. The earthquake had a depth of 35km, sparked tsunami warnings which was later withdrawn. At least two aftershocks, with magnitudes 5.5 and 5.2, followed the major earthquake. There were reports on damage to buildings and power outage.
Lindesnes, Norway. April 4, 2026
Storm Dave with wind gust of 42,7 m/s in addition to heavy snowfall and fallen trees caused power outage for 10 000 customers in the south of Norway. The storm caused trains to be cancelled and roads to be closed.
Ireland, 5 April 2026
Around 2,000 homes were left without power in Northern Ireland after Storm Dave brought winds gusted close to 70 mph at the peak of the storm. Around 18,000 homes, farms and businesses across the Republic of Ireland were without power as a result of Storm Dave.
New Zealand, April 12, 2026
Cyclone Vaianu made landfall in New Zealand’s North Island triggering floods, power outages to 5,000 homes and forcing hundreds to evacuate. The cyclone crossed the coast near the Maketu Peninsula, packing destructive winds exceeding 130 kph, 24-hour rainfall of more than 100 mm and wave heights exceeding six metres.
JAKARTA, Indonesia, April 23, 2026
A power outage was reported in several areas in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta and efforts were underway to restore supply.
Philippines, May 14, 2026
The Philippines planned power cuts of up to seven hours across its two main grids as searing heat and power plant outages triggered the first back-to-back serious shortage warnings in two years. A red alert represents the highest level of grid strain, meaning supply can no longer meet demand.
Cuba, May 14, 2026
The country set a historic record for simultaneous outages: 70%. Hours later, the system suffered another partial shutdown. Humour is often the Cuban people’s best tool for capturing their reality. People no longer talk about blackouts, but about fleeting moments when the lights actually come on.
New Delhi/Bengaluru, India, May 22, 2026
An El Nino weather pattern brings above-average summer temperatures in May, with nighttime outages running from 40 minutes to an hour. The electricity demand has been pushed to an all-time high in excess of 270 gigawatts. During the evening hours supply relies heavily on thermal and hydropower sources, while daytime demand is met partly by solar generation.
Biography:
Rannveig J. S. Loken – Head of Protection department, Statnett, Norway, CIGRE TC Chair.
Received her Master of Science in Electric Power engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in 1992. She works in Statnett, the TSO of Norway, currently Head of Protection department in Statnett. In August 2024 she became the TC Chair of CIGRE. Her special field of interest is protection and control for the transmission system. In addition, working in Cigre Working groups is of great interest – she is currently a member of WG B5.86. Rannveig is in the Advisory board of PAC world, Committee member of IET DPSP, and Member of the International Advisory Committee APAP.
