Southeastern France hit by major power outage, also affecting Cannes festival

The southeastern French département of Alpes-Maritimes has been grappling with a major power outage since this morning, leaving tens of thousands of households without electricity. France Info reported. The city of Cannes is in the area, where the international film festival reaches its climax today, although the event is not expected to be disrupted.

French energy company RTE said the outage affected 160.000 households. It was caused by a fire at an electrical substation in the neighboring Var département on Friday, which weakened the grid, and a high-voltage line falling today. Gendarmes said the fire was started deliberately, AFP reported.

French media reported that the outage affected car and train transport in Cannes, as well as shops that were left without power. In nearby Antibes, traffic lights have been out of service since 10 a.m., causing traffic disruption.

The outage also affected Cannes, where the 78th film festival concludes today. “It was a bit chaotic. People were filming in the dark, shouting at the projectionist, clapping and whistling,” Libération quoted one of the audience members as saying about the cinema where the film Sirat was screening when the power went out.

After midday, organizers said the incident would not affect further screenings or the closing of the event, as the building is powered by generators and three of them will be used simultaneously for the closing ceremony.

A massive power outage also hit Spain at the end of April, disrupting operations across the entire Iberian Peninsula. Authorities have so far been unable to determine the exact cause of the outage, but according to a number of experts, Spain’s high share of renewable energy in its power generation contributed to the blackout. The country has definitively ruled out a cyberattack as the cause of the incident.