As June 23 turns out to be one of France’s hottest days ever, people become desperate painted with white chalk On their windows to protect from the sun. The Eiffel Tower in Paris closed early.
And in the town of Argue-Gabarique in Brittany, punishing temperatures – around 40C – were too high for an electrical transformer.
The heavy metal box failed, initially knocking out power to more than 100,000 people.
According to local officials, it was a “heat-related” incident., external. In the video posted on social media, a plume of smoke is seen rising from the faulty transformer. A spokeswoman for electricity company RTÉ confirmed to the BBC that the video showed one of the company’s facilities.
RTE had published a statement a day before the accident, external It said there were “no concerns” about the availability of electricity on its network this summer.
Just as we all have our limits when it comes to high temperatures, technology also has its limits. Electricity and telecommunications equipment, and railway signaling cabinets sometimes fail during heatwaves. Excessive temperatures can also set off the alarm system.
Tech suffering from heat is a serious issue.
For example, six NHS trusts in England declared a serious incident last week after the hot weather adversely affected their IT systems, scanners and cancer and laboratory equipment.
More frequent and more intense heatwaves caused by human-caused climate change mean engineers are increasingly adapting infrastructure to deal with them.
“Anything related to power networks – power lines, interconnectors and transformers – they all struggle to keep themselves adequately cooled,” explains Ian Staffel at Imperial College London. “It reduces the efficiency of everything.”
Staffel and colleagues estimate that, in a temperature of 40C, the output of gas-fired power stations is reduced by about 10% compared with 20C.
The efficiency of solar panels also decreases as the temperature increases, although Staffel says this effect has become less pronounced with newer generations of panels.
Still, the impact of high temperatures on solar power in Great Britain is visible in the data he and his colleagues have analyzed and shared with the BBC. “Once the UK gets above 27C, our solar output stagnates and slowly starts to fall [as temperatures continue to rise]”Staffel says.
That said, extended periods of sunny weather during a heatwave can still increase solar output compared to cloudy days before the heatwave arrives. This happened last week, according to comparison website Utility Bidder.
In addition to power generation facilities, also consider the power lines spread across the country. These cables are made of metal, which expands in heat, causing the lines to bend. Running electricity through them produces even more heat.
“There’s a limit to how long you can allow yourself to linger,” says Simon Hogg, consultant and professor emeritus at Durham University.
If frayed wires touch trees or buildings below, it can cause accidents or power outages.
This was the scenario behind the massive blackouts in North America in 2003.
Given the risk, operators reduce the amount of electricity sent through power lines during heatwaves, limiting supply.