The lines have systems that continuously monitor and record all the events related to the commercial functioning and operation of the lines.
The existing information on this specific line on 17 June registered an event of automatic cut-off and reconnection (without any current flowing to ground) a few minutes after the time of the first warnings of fire mentioned in the reports (both that of the Independent Commission and the Report prepared by the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of University of Coimbra).
This indicates that this event was a consequence and never a cause of the fire. In addition, the line in question was visually inspected two months before the fire and no risk situation was detected. The regulation requires the setting up and protection of corridors and also of Fuel Management Bands that must take into account the specificities of the vegetation.
In compliance with this legislation, EDP Distribuição annually invests 5 million euros in the preservation of the protection corridors and in the Fuel Management Bands, maintaining 7500 km of these. At the same time, it supervises with aerial resources and laser technology an extension of 14 000 km. In addition, visual and drone inspections are performed. We recall that EDP Distribuição has 84 000 km of high voltage airlines, 26 000 km of which cross forest areas.
