20,000 farmed fish die after power failure

The police chief in the Westfjords said they were notified of the incident at the weekend. It was said that the electricity had been cut off in the area after a failure in the Tálknafjörður line during a period of bad winter weather.

The site reported to have been affected is Tungusilung, a small independent land-based fish farm, and the losses so far are estimated at ISK 50 million (£300,000), reports the broadcaster RUV.is

A company spokesman said he still has not received a proper explanation for what caused the failure and says he has been referred to his insurance company. He said the next step is to compile data on the case and work it forward with the company’s lawyer and the insurance company.

The spokesman said that energy security in the area was severely lacking, which had the effect that when the family decided to expand production, they invested in a backup power plant and other equipment to be able to respond.

He added: "One of the worst energy security areas in the country is in the southern Westfjords, and it has been that way for as long as I can remember." 

The company has described the situation that has arisen in the region as being “very strange” and expressed concern that another incident is likely to happen again sooner rather than later.

The spokesman said: “Voltage has been too low for many hours, and when the electricity has been on for a considerable time, I plan to turn off my backup power. Then there will be some failure where I won’t be able to connect to the Westfjords Power Plant again."

The weather in Iceland has been particularly bad over the last few days which has affected traffic movements along with creating power problems.