Most of Greenland Loses Electricity after Major Blackout
Trump would never let this happen. MGGA – Make Greenland Great Again.
The last time we touched upon the topic of Greenland, President/President-elect Donald Trump’s tasked his pick for Ambassador to Denmark with persuading the Danes to sell us the resource-rich Arctic land.
Now, a major power outage struck Greenland, primarily affecting the capital city of Nuuk and its suburb Qinngorput, leaving the region dark during a period of with temperatures dropping below -27 degrees Fahrenheit (-33°C).
The extreme cold has compounded the urgency of restoring power, with many residents facing harsh conditions without heating. According to local reports, the blackout has affected not only homes but also critical infrastructure, including hospitals and emergency services, which are now operating on backup generators.
The Greenlandic government has issued an emergency statement urging citizens to conserve energy where possible and to seek warmth in community centers where facilities are available. International aid might be necessary if the situation prolongs, especially given the geographical isolation of Greenland.
This incident highlights the vulnerability of Greenland’s power grid, especially during the harsh Arctic winters. Greenland’s reliance on a few key power generation facilities means that when one fails, the impact can be widespread. The government has promised a thorough investigation into the cause of the outage, with preliminary reports suggesting it could be due to technical failures exacerbated by the cold weather.
Nuuk. #Greenland 🇬🇱 still without electricity since 9:40 am this morning.
Temp: wind chill -27C.
It’s very cold and dark. pic.twitter.com/z46o6BexUl— Orla Joelsen (@OJoelsen) December 28, 2024
It appears at least some of the power has now been restored:
Shortly after 5 am on Sunday morning, Nukissiorfiit announced that two-thirds of Nuuk had regained power. However, citizens who got their power back were urged to conserve their electricity usage. That warning has now been lifted.
According to the energy company, a fault was found on a power line from a wind turbine in Buksefjorden to Nuuk. The cause of the power outage is still being investigated.
The police’s landline phones were knocked out during the power outage, and the public service company KNR’s broadcasts were down. Extra police patrols were sent out in Nuuk, the suburb Qinngorput, and the village Nuussuaq. Nuuk’s hospital was forced to use backup generators.
🚨
The national power company in Greenland, Nukissiorfiit, has now found the cause of yesterday's huge power outage in Nuuk.Nukissiorfiit has today carried out an inspection of the transmission line via helicopter, and has been able to establish that a conductor has come loose… pic.twitter.com/UORHHTwoE1
— Orla Joelsen (@OJoelsen) December 29, 2024
Perhaps the challenges of dealing with infrastructure issues at such a distance will make the Danes more persuadable?
I don’t know. But many Americans enthusiastic for the Great Greenland Purchase are hopeful.
Hmm 🤔…. The lights 💡 wouldn’t have gone off in “Yugeland” 🤷🏻♂️
Suit yourselves 🤣 pic.twitter.com/4lKAKrQETe— Muskrat Piss (@MuskratPiss) December 29, 2024
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Trump isn’t that subtle. Home disfunction
We can still make Greenland jokes from this, right?
–Both homes in Greenland lost power. They had to share a box of candles.
–The government of Greenland has urged the population not to panic. They have procured a second hamster and are getting it on the exercise wheel now so power should be restored shortly.
–The situation is so severe the local Motel-6 has turned out the light to save electricity.
Nuuk?
Really?
I think we can rename that city Trumpland after we take over.
Build lots of glacier-front condos.
LOL.
This was a joke, right?
Cold weather … in Greenland??
Dammit, Joe… stop frakking with the undersea cables!
Joe banned frakking.
I wonder how many people in Greenland are responsible enough to have their own backup arrangements? In the next year how many will take such measures?
How many Americans will learn from Greenland’s example
Wind chill isn’t important unless you’re standing in the wind with exposed skin. A metal flagpole standing in a 20 degree 40 knot wind is at 20 degrees not -2 degrees which is the wind chill. Likewise a house.
Greenland has basically two sources of power. Hydro and Diesel. Because of the temp extremes, they can’t deal with solid or liquid waste without either burning it or dumping it into the ocean or on the beaches. It’s also basically a social welfare country. I’m not seeing any benefit to taking on a huge money pit.
It’s all about the rare earth elements. Having access to Greenland’s reserves would help us decouple from China.
But the problem is, Denmark doesn’t “own” Greenland. Their relationship with them is like Britain’s relationship with Scotland.
Trump should put a bid in for Scotland, too. Sure … they’re mostly commies, but just for fun.
The strategic location combined with the minerals makes it valuable. Besides, there is a 3rd source of power. As the story indicated, a part on an offshore wind turbine failed. The mild winter weather had little to do with it. The tweet said it was -27 C not F. That’s roughly -17F.
The population is so small, the mineral wealth is so vast. Plus the strategic importance, such as Pituffik Space Base.
Not to mention another territory that we can bring our insane laws, regulations, and social engineering too. I’m sure that the greenlanders will be happy to have all three.
1) I know that most of this is a joke; moreover I’m a very fervent British supporter of Trump and I realise that his comments are in his standard style, but don’t your commenters get how offensive this is to Denmark and Greenland? The comments by the founding head of the Arctic Studies Group at the US Naval War College are much more appropriate:
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/12/29/exclusive-naval-war-college-arctic-founding-director-greenland-a-linchpin-for-u-s-security-future-of-free-world/
2) The US could easily source its rare earths from its own mining (most rare earths are obtained as by-products of other mining) so the shut-off of China’s rare earths is not a strategic issue in the medium term. In the short term I don’t think Greenland is producing much if any.
See this, and other posts by Tim Worstall:
https://www.timworstall.com/2012/03/spiked-on-rare-earths/
So, a wind turbine was behind the power outage. The wonders of “green” energy. It will be the death of many.
Why are they are installing wind turbines when the power grid for their one urban center is already green? One small hydroelectric plant supplies all the energy needs of Nuuk and nearby communities, and it appears that they can double the output just by digging another water tunnel and adding more turbines.
The distances are too far and the power usage too low to connect settlements in other parts of the island. Wind turbines might make sense for those remote places, if they don’t prefer to make do with seal oil lamps and other traditional practices. But any such power systems will require both batteries for a few hours of backup when the wind dies, and a diesel generator for when the low wind condition persists – as well as a system for melting the diesel fuel when it’s needed.
Hmmm..
Just a mental exercise here…
Let’s say, hypothetically, that you had a large country that had been over-run by, I don’t know -say ten million illegal entrants. You can arrange to deport a lot of them, but there are going to be perhaps half a million whose home countries will refuse to take back. Now, your choices are to imprison them or release them into the countryside again.
Now no one wants to imprison them, really, but no one wants them free to cause more of the trouble that makes their homelands refuse repatriation.
If only you had say, the modern equivalent of Australia. …
Now I’m not saying to just dump them in a frozen wasteland with no opportunities. I would want to make sure that there would be lots of unskilled labor jobs available, say, in mining?
My only concern is that if we don’t procure Greenland, China will. That is the only reason to even consider buying it. Mineral leases are the typical way to obtain mineral rights, not purchases of entire countries.
You buy mineral leases from sane and stable governments. But when the government often subscribes to nutty ideas and delusions, and is thus likely to shut down your mines after you’ve put in a huge investment, you should see if you can buy the country first.
Greenland, aka Green Land, has value merely because of Global Warming, an existential threat. It will soon be as warm as Florida and a valuable resort destitation. Of course, its rare earth minerals are essential to deal with the need to sell only electric vehicles after 2035. We have to get those mines going ASAP. /s
I trust this is sarcasm.
Your trust is not misplaced. “/s” is short for “/sarcasm” or “{end sarcasm]”
Leave a Comment