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Power Cut Hits Argentina and Uruguay, Affecting Tens of Millions Power Cut Hits Argentina and Uruguay, Affecting Tens of Millions
(about 1 hour later)
BUENOS AIRES — A widespread power failure early Sunday morning left a large section of South America, including all of mainland Argentina and Uruguay, without power and an energy company official called the blackout “unprecedented.” BUENOS AIRES — A widespread power failure early Sunday left all of mainland Argentina and Uruguay without power, a blackout that an energy company official called “unprecedented.”
The outage affected Argentina’s transportation system and water supply, according to local news reports. It halted trains and knocked out traffic lights, the reports said. Social media users said parts of Chile, Paraguay and southern Brazil were also affected. By midday, power was slowly returning to parts of both countries. The Energy Secretariat of Argentina said that one-third of the supply had been restored as of 1:30 p.m.
Argentina’s interconnection system “collapsed” at 7:07 a.m., cutting electricity in the entire country and affecting Uruguay, the Argentine Secretariat of Energy said. The blackout’s cause remained unclear. But much of Argentina was hit by heavy rainfall this weekend, and Uruguay’s state-owned utility, UTE, said some systems were damaged by the recent rain and still needed to be repaired.
“The causes have not been determined and are being investigated,” it added. The power failure was traced to two 500,000-volt lines in a corridor that takes power to Buenos Aires from the Yacyretá dam, which serves Argentina and Paraguay. But why it occurred was still being determined.
Edesur, an electricity company in Argentina, announced on Twitter about 7:50 a.m. that a “massive failure in the electrical interconnection system left all of Argentina and Uruguay without power.” The blackouts brought the transportation system in Buenos Aires to a halt as trains and subways stopped and traffic lights went dark. The water company AySA, based in Buenos Aires, asked customers to ration water because its distribution system had shut down.
Uruguay’s energy supplier, U.T.E., also said on Twitter that a malfunction in the Argentine network before dawn had left the “entire national territory” without service. Flights operated normally, said Carlos Armentano, a spokesman for Aeropuertos Argentina 2000, the company that runs most of the country’s airports. But Argentine ports came to a standstill for a few hours, said Guillermo Wade, the manager for the Port and Maritime Activities Chamber.
Across the region, residents posted images on social media of their dark towns and cities.
“There is a complete blackout in Argentina,” said Alejandra Martínez, a spokeswoman for Edesur, an electricity company in Argentina which serves parts of Buenos Aires and its suburbs and has more than 2.5 million customers. She said this was unprecedented.
“This is the first time something like this has happened across the entire country,” she said.
Argentina has more than 44 million people, while Uruguay’s population is about 3.5 million.Argentina has more than 44 million people, while Uruguay’s population is about 3.5 million.
“There is a complete blackout in Argentina,” said Alejandra Martínez, a spokeswoman for Edesur, which serves parts of the capital, Buenos Aires, and its suburbs and has more than 2.5 million customers. An electrical grid that serves both nations “collapsed” at 7:07 a.m., cutting electricity in all of Argentina and affecting Uruguay as well, the Argentine Secretariat of Energy said.
Ms. Martínez described the blackout in Argentina as “unprecedented.” She added, “This is the first time something like this has happened across the entire country.” “The causes have not been determined and are being investigated,” it added.
The outage was caused by a failure in two separate 500,000 volt power lines in a corridor that takes power from the Yacyreta dam to Buenos Aires, according to a high-ranking government official. The cause of that failure remained unclear. Edesur announced on Twitter about 7:50 a.m. that a “massive failure in the electrical interconnection system left all of Argentina and Uruguay without power.”
The Argentine official said at 10:30 a.m. local time that it would take four to five hours to restore service to the entire country. Uruguay’s UTE also said on Twitter that a malfunction in the Argentine network before dawn had left the “entire national territory” without service.
The blackout occurred on a weekend when Buenos Aires and its suburbs have been hit by heavy rainfall. The systems are resuming “gradually as a result of thermal plants coming into service,” the Energy Secretariat said.
Residents posted images of their dark towns and cities. El Clarín said the power cut was the worst in Argentina’s recent history, bringing the transport system in Buenos Aires to a halt, as trains stopped and traffic lights went dark. Isolated neighborhoods in Buenos Aires started getting power by midmorning, and supply returned to normal in the eastern province of Entre Rios. The province of Santa Fe had some power return, and a little more than half of normal power was restored to the western provinces of Mendoza and San Juan.
The Argentine news site Infobae reported that flights appeared to be taking off and landing because airports were operating on generators. The Patagonia region got some power back, but the process was delayed by failures in the region’s power plants.
An economist in Uruguay said on Twitter that radio outlets were reporting that 180,000 customers were without power in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, and 45,000 in Canelones, a city to the north of the capital. In Uruguay, services north of the Río Negro (Black River) have been restored, as well as in some sections of the capital, Montevideo, and surrounding areas and along the coast.
Edesur was one of the first to alert the scale of the blackout, with Edenor, the other distributor servicing the Argentine capital and its suburbs, following suit with a Twitter post at 8:33 a.m. Only the southern Argentine archipelago of Tierra del Fuego appeared to be unaffected, according to local reports. An economist in Uruguay said on Twitter that radio outlets had reported 180,000 customers without power in Montevideo and 45,000 in Canelones, a city to the north of the capital.
Later Sunday morning, the Energy Secretariat of Argentina said that work to turn the power back on had begun in parts of the country, but that restoring the entire system “could take a few hours.” In Argentina, only the southern archipelago of Tierra del Fuego appeared to be unaffected, according to local reports.
The water company AySA, which is based in Buenos Aires, asked customers to ration water because its distribution system had shut down.
In 2009, a huge power failure in Brazil involving the world’s largest operating hydroelectric plant caused widespread blackouts that affected tens of millions of people and exposed the vulnerability of the country’s electricity infrastructure.In 2009, a huge power failure in Brazil involving the world’s largest operating hydroelectric plant caused widespread blackouts that affected tens of millions of people and exposed the vulnerability of the country’s electricity infrastructure.
That failure occurred at the Itaipú plant, which straddles the border between Brazil and Paraguay along the Paraná River and is a critical source of power for both nations.That failure occurred at the Itaipú plant, which straddles the border between Brazil and Paraguay along the Paraná River and is a critical source of power for both nations.