Severe wind conditions have recently impacted Slovenia’s electricity infrastructure, particularly in the northern regions, where gusts reached up to 150 km/h. The extreme weather prompted Slovenia’s Environment Agency to issue a red weather warning on March 26, which remained in effect through March 27. This warning highlighted the operational challenges faced by the electricity system during such adverse conditions.
The high winds caused significant disruptions, leading to the temporary shutdown of two critical interconnection lines between Slovenia and Croatia: the 400 kV Divača–Melina line and the 220 kV Podlog–Žerjavinec connection. These outages underscored the vulnerabilities inherent in cross-border energy infrastructure during extreme weather events.
Despite these challenges, Slovenia’s transmission system operator ELES reported no damage on its side of the network. However, Croatian teams identified a fault on the line leading to Melina, which could not be repaired immediately due to hazardous conditions. Fortunately, the situation did not affect overall electricity supply in Slovenia, thanks to sufficient backup network capacity and alternative transmission routes.
The restoration efforts were effective; the Podlog–Žerjavinec line was back online by midday on March 27, while full service was restored to the Divača–Melina connection by March 28 after resolving issues on the Croatian side. Throughout this period of increased operational strain and temporary outages, the overall stability of Slovenia’s transmission system ensured that there were no wider supply interruptions for consumers.
This incident serves as a reminder of the importance of resilient energy infrastructure capable of withstanding extreme weather events while maintaining reliable service across borders in Southeast Europe.
