Almost all of the Czech Karlovy Vary Region hit by power outage this morning

A widespread power outage affected almost the entire Karlovy Vary Region this morning. The outage occurred at around 8:30. According to Soňa Holingerová, ČEZ spokesperson for western Bohemia, it was caused by a fault in the high-voltage distribution system at the Vítkov substation near Sokolov. The outage lasted about half an hour, and customers should gradually be reconnected. However, some locations were without power for much longer, ČTK reported. The outage kept firefighters and emergency medical services busy.

„The outage affected a large part of the Karlovy Vary Region. The fault was fixed at around 8:50,“ Holingerová said, adding that the cause is being investigated.

She later told ČTK that some areas might have to wait longer for power to be restored. Smaller substations at lower voltages will also need to be brought back online gradually. In Sokolov, for example, the outage lasted longer, and the power was still off shortly before 10:00.

Cities and outlying parts of the region were left without power this morning. The Vítkov substation is one of the most important substations in the Karlovy Vary Region, and a fault there cuts off electricity to almost the entire region. The fault occurred in the 400-kilovolt distribution system.

Firefighters responded to around two dozen incidents caused by the outage. People requested backup power sources or became trapped in elevators. „We have no reports of any injuries,“ said Martin Kasal, spokesperson for the regional fire service.

The outage did not affect the region’s only trolleybus service, in Mariánské Lázně. „We had replacement buses ready, but the outage was brief, so the buses ran on batteries. They can operate like that for about an hour,“ Vladimír Nedvěd, managing director of Městská doprava Mariánské Lázně, told ČTK.

The outage did not affect operations at Karlovy Vary Airport either. „Everything went off half an hour ago, but because the airport is critical infrastructure, it has a backup power source, so we switched to that,“ Alice Justina Undus, managing director of Karlovy Vary Airport, told ČTK.

Public offices responded differently during the outage. In Cheb, for example, town hall operations came to a halt. „We had no power. That meant the doors to the office closed too, work stopped, and we waited for the supply to be restored. But the outage was brief,“ said town hall spokesperson Simona Liptáková.

The municipal authority in Karlovy Vary, for example, is prepared for outages. „The backup generators kick in, and the computer network continues to operate. So the authority carries on as normal. Only things like the elevators stop working,“ said spokesperson Jan Kopál. The municipal authority is better prepared for possible outages partly because the crisis management staff is based there and must be able to operate during emergencies.

The outage briefly affected the region’s largest company, Sokolovská uhelná. „Because we are part of critical infrastructure, power is restored to us among the first. So as soon as we were reconnected, operations resumed, including mining,“ company spokesperson Jana Pavlíková told ČTK.

The emergency medical service responded to three patients who relied on oxygen concentrators, arranging either transport or backup generators for them. „The outage did not affect the operations centre in any way,“ said emergency service spokesperson Zdeňka Newiaková.

Electrified railway lines were also left without power, including the main Cheb – Chomutov route and the Cheb – Mariánské Lázně – Plzeň line. Services began to resume after power was restored.