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Wind gusts buffet northern Slovenia’s grid, but cross-border power flows hold
Extreme winds in northern Slovenia tested the resilience of the country’s power network, disrupting parts of the electricity system and temporarily sidelining two interconnection lines with Croatia. Even so, authorities reported that domestic electricity supply stayed intact, helped by available backup network capacity.
The event unfolded after the Slovenian Environment Agency issued a red weather warning on 26 March for the northern region. The alert covered 26–27 March as strong gusts persisted and created operational difficulties across grid operations.
Beyond impacts on distribution infrastructure, two major transmission connections between Slovenia and Croatia were forced offline during the storm period: the 400 kV Divača–Melina line and the 220 kV Podlog–Žerjavinec connection. The outages underscored how cross-border assets can become vulnerable when extreme weather hits simultaneously.
Slovenia’s transmission system operator, ELES, stated that no damage was found on the Slovenian side of the network. However, Croatian crews identified a fault on the line segment toward Melina. Repairs could not start right away because weather conditions made work dangerous, but ELES said the outage did not translate into customer-facing supply disruptions thanks to alternative transmission routes.
Service returned in stages: the Podlog–Žerjavinec line was brought back on 27 March around midday, followed by restoration of Divača–Melina on 28 March after resolution of the fault on Croatia’s side. Despite temporary strain on operations associated with these disruptions, ELES reported that the overall transmission system remained stable and prevented any broader interruptions for consumers.
The episode offers a live case study in how severe weather can selectively impair infrastructure—especially international links—while contingency planning within national networks helps maintain reliability.
