What does the power cut mean for visitors and residents?
El Faro de La Palma reports that the whole island has been without power since 06:42. Going by that report, visitors staying in the south are on the same grid as the rest of the island.
No official advice for visitors or residents about this outage has been published so far. Nothing has appeared on hotels, transport or possible compensation either.
During the outage of 8 May 2025, residents were advised to save phone battery and to call the 112 emergency number only in a real emergency. Once power returned, they were told to switch appliances on one by one, not all at once.
These tips date from 2025 and are not instructions for this outage. Anyone on the island is best off following the Canary Islands government and the 112 emergency centre.
What is PLATECA and what does the alert level mean?
PLATECA is the civil protection emergency plan of the Canary Islands. The Dirección General de Emergencias (Directorate-General for Emergencies) of the Canary Islands government activates it in stages, such as pre-alert (prealerta) and alert (alerta).
In this case, El Faro de La Palma names the alerta level.
Media reports say the total outage of 10 June 2025 also led to its activation.
How often does the power fail on La Palma?
On 10 June 2025, power failed across all of La Palma from 17:32, and supply was fully restored after about three hours, according to RTVC. The Canary Islands energy director blamed outdated equipment at the Los Guinchos power station and said the failure of one generator must not bring down the whole system.
On 8 May 2025, 19,526 customers lost power in Los Llanos de Aridane, Breña Alta, El Paso, Tajaraste, Santa Cruz de La Palma, Punta Gorda, San Andrés y Sauces and Garafía. RTVC says the outage ran from 09:47 to 11:34 and was the second within a week.
The Cabildo (island government) called the interruptions “recurring” and asked the regional government for preventive measures. RTVC counted six faults in the power grid in May and early June 2025.
As far back as September 2013, a faulty switch at Los Guinchos left the whole island in the dark. On 27 September 2021, power failed during the Tajogaite volcanic eruption.
Why is the grid on La Palma so fragile?
Each Canary island has its own closed power grid. Only Lanzarote and Fuerteventura are linked, which is why the blackout on mainland Spain on 28 April 2025 did not reach the Canaries, RTVC writes.
Endesa runs the Los Guinchos power station through Unión Eléctrica de Canarias Generación. According to RTVC, it has the oldest generating units in the Canaries: more than half are over 25 years old, and two are over 50.
Vozpópuli describes the plant as practically the only pillar of supply, with little storage and reserve. Sources disagree on its installed capacity, giving figures between 80 and 118 megawatts, and we could not settle the point.
The cause of earlier outages is disputed. Endesa denies that the power station alone was to blame, and Red Eléctrica ruled out its own substation at Los Guinchos as the origin, according to Vozpópuli.
Who is responsible and what is meant to change?
The Ministry for Ecological Transition (MITECO) is running the tender for new power generation on La Palma. A 2013 rule requires the renewal of generation on island grids, and Endesa was the only bidder for La Palma, according to RTVC.
In July 2025, Endesa expected a decision within months and spoke of a delay of more than twelve years. We found no figures for the capacity or cost of the tender, and no source gave a timetable for 2026.
The Canary Islands government can demand explanations and investigate, while Red Eléctrica is the grid operator. In May 2025, the ministry announced an investigation into the outages and did not rule out sanctions, according to an RTVC headline.
An Endesa press office headline puts the rebuilding of the power ring after the volcano at €10 million. The sources we reviewed do not say who pays for damage caused by power cuts.
What is still unclear about the outage of 2 November?
The time of 06:42 and the alert level come so far only from the El Faro de La Palma report. There was no confirmation from Red Eléctrica, Endesa, the Cabildo under its president Sergio Rodríguez, or the Canary Islands government.
The cause, the number of customers affected and the time of restoration are all unknown. It is also unclear whether PLATECA has been scaled down again, and whether the weather or grid works commissioned in 2026 played any part.
Earlier total outages on La Palma lasted about three hours. Whether that holds this time has not been shown.