Wildfire, scorching heatwave threaten Greece’s power supply

A wildfire north of Athens, in tandem with record-breaking single-day demand in electricity, threatened roughly half the country with a blackout on Tuesday, amid a scorching heat wave passing through much of the eastern Mediterranean.

Electricity demand reached 10,809MW just before 2 p.m., breaking the single-day record set the previous day.

Adding to the strain was the sudden wildfire at the verdant Varibobi site, due north of the Greek capital. Besides the raging blaze, the fire threatened high-voltage lines leading into the greater Athens area and the Kryoneri substation.

Civil protection officials, in fact, ordered an evacuation of the site.