2011 Chile blackout

Last updated

The residential neighborhood of Los Navegantes, in Pichilemu (O'Higgins Region) during the blackout. Power outage Pichilemu, Los Navegantes.jpg
The residential neighborhood of Los Navegantes, in Pichilemu (O'Higgins Region) during the blackout.

The 2011 Chile blackout was a major power outage that occurred on 24 September 2011, approximately between 20:30 and 21:45 local time (23:30 and 00:45 UTC respectively), although the time of reinstatement varied geographically. It mainly affected the regions from Coquimbo to Maule, where the blackout was total, but it also reportedly partially affected the Atacama and Bío Bío regions. [1] The blackout affected approximately nine million Chileans. [2] [3]

Contents

Chile has [ es ] 4 electrical interconnections that operate independently. In the blackout, the Central Interconnected System (SIC) collapsed. [4]

Prior to the blackout, 5 transmission lines had been removed from service for maintenance. [4]

The cause of the blackout, which started at 20:30 local time (UTC−03:00), was later determined to be equipment failure at an electrical substation. [3] In particular, it began with a single phase short circuit. [4] Rodrigo Álvarez Zenteno, Minister of Energy, noted a computer system malfunction and "oscillation problems" affecting two power lines. [3] The blackout interrupted mobile phone service [5] and forced the evacuation of thousands of rail and rapid transit passengers in Santiago, the capital city. [3] It also delayed a concert by pop singer Ricky Martin [5] A supermarket in Quilicura was looted, and a youth was wounded during a confrontation between the looters and police. [5]

The outage affected operations at a number of copper mines, of which Chile is the world's top producer. [6] The Los Bronces mine, operated by Anglo American, halted production temporarily and later, with power from generators, resumed at one-third capacity. [6] CODELCO, Chile's state-owned copper mining company, reported that its Andina division and the El Teniente mine had lost power but continued operations using generators until power was restored. [6]

Investigation

On 6 December 2011, the Chile regulatory authority Superintendency of Electricity and Fuels (SEC) determined that the cause of the blackout was an electrical short circuit in a 220 Kilovolt capacitor bank at the Ancoa electrical substation which is located in Linares, Chile, and the subsequent malfunction of the associated protective relay equipment that should have prevented the cascading failure. SEC also determined that the time needed to restore power was prolonged by both procedural and equipment issues.

As a result of the investigation, SEC has assessed charges against the following four power companies; Transelec, Endesa (Chile), Colbún S.A., and Chilectra.

The Superintendent of the SEC, Luis Avila Bravo, said "we are making charges for not maintaining the equipment in good condition, which ultimately represents a threat to the power system security as well as for problems in applying the procedures used to restore the supply of power ".

Avila added that companies now have 15 days to respond to the charges, after which the SEC may determine sanctions, and possible fines of up to 10,000 AWU (approx. $9M US) although the final amount will depend on the merits of each investigation. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Power outage</span> Loss of electric power to an area

A power outage is the loss of the electrical power network supply to an end user.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northeast blackout of 1965</span> Major power outage in Northeastern U.S. and Canada

The northeast blackout of 1965 was a significant disruption in the supply of electricity on Tuesday, November 9, 1965, affecting parts of Ontario in Canada and Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont in the United States. Over 30 million people and 80,000 square miles (207,000 km2) were left without electricity for up to 13 hours.

The 2003 London blackout was a serious power outage that affected parts of south London and north-west Kent in the evening of 28 August 2003. It was caused by a series of faults at National Grid transmission substations, which supplied the distribution network operator in the area, EDF Energy.

The New York City blackout of 1977 was an electricity blackout that affected most of New York City on July 13–14, 1977. The only unaffected neighborhoods in the city were in southern Queens, which were part of the Long Island Lighting Company system, as well as the Pratt Institute campus in Brooklyn, and a few other large apartment and commercial complexes that operated their own power generators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station</span> Nuclear and gas-fired power plant located near Homestead, Florida

Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear and gas-fired power plant located on a 3,300-acre (1,300 ha) site two miles east of Homestead, Florida, United States, next to Biscayne National Park located about 25 miles (40 km) south of Miami, Florida near the southernmost edge of Miami-Dade County. The facility is owned by Florida Power & Light.

Power-system automation is the act of automatically controlling the power system via instrumentation and control devices. Substation automation refers to using data from Intelligent electronic devices (IED), control and automation capabilities within the substation, and control commands from remote users to control power-system devices.

The 2006 Auckland Blackout was a major electrical blackout in Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand, on 12 June 2006. It started at 08:30 local time, with most areas of Auckland regaining power by 14:45 local time. It affected some 230,000 customers and at least 700,000 people in and around the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northeast blackout of 2003</span> Major power outage in August 2003 in North America

The Northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States, and most parts of the Canadian province of Ontario on Thursday, August 14, 2003, beginning just after 4:10 p.m. EDT.

As of August 2020 Chile had diverse sources of electric power: for the National Electric System, providing over 99% of the county's electric power, hydropower represented around 26.7% of its installed capacity, biomass 1.8%, wind power 8.8%, solar 12.1%, geothermal 0.2%, natural gas 18.9%, coal 20.3%, and petroleum-based capacity 11.3%. Prior to that time, faced with natural gas shortages, Chile began in 2007 to build its first liquefied natural gas terminal and re-gasification plant at Quintero near the capital city of Santiago to secure supply for its existing and upcoming gas-fired thermal plants. In addition, it had engaged in the construction of several new hydropower and coal-fired thermal plants. But by July 2020 91% of the new capacity under construction was of renewable power, 46.8% of the total solar and 25.6% wind, with most of the remainder hydro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electrical grid</span> Interconnected network for delivering electricity from suppliers to consumers

An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids consist of power stations, electrical substations to step voltage up or down, electric power transmission to carry power over long distances, and finally electric power distribution to customers. In that last step, voltage is stepped down again to the required service voltage. Power stations are typically built close to energy sources and far from densely populated areas. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. From small to large there are microgrids, wide area synchronous grids, and super grids.

The 1999 Southern Brazil blackout was a widespread power outage that started in Brazil on March 11 and lasted until June 22, 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 Chile blackout</span> Power outage in Chile

The 2010 Chile blackout was an electric power outage that affected most of Chile on March 14, 2010. It began at 8:44 pm on Sunday and continued into the next day. The power was restored in a few hours in some areas, and by midnight in most areas, except in the Biobío Region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 Southwest blackout</span> Power Outage In Southern California

The 2011 Southwest blackout, also known as the Great Blackout of 2011, was a widespread power outage that affected the San Diego–Tijuana area, southern Orange County, Imperial Valley, Mexicali Valley, Coachella Valley, and parts of Arizona. It occurred on Thursday, September 8, 2011, beginning at about 3:38pm PDT, and was the largest power failure in California history.

Several major power outages have occurred in the country of Malaysia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant</span> Nuclear power plant in Hengchun, Pingtung County, Taiwan

The Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant located near South Bay, Hengchun, Pingtung County, Taiwan. The plant is Taiwan's third nuclear power plant and second-largest in generation capacity. The expected lifespan of this plant is 60 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Venezuelan blackouts</span> Nationwide power outages

Nationwide recurring electrical blackouts in Venezuela began in March 2019. Experts and state-run Corpoelec sources attribute the electricity shortages to lack of maintenance and to a lack of technical expertise in the country resulting from a brain drain; Nicolás Maduro's administration attributes them to sabotage. Since March, various nationwide blackouts occurred in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay blackout</span> Blackout affecting Argentina, Uruguay and parts of Paraguay

On 16 June 2019, a large-scale power outage struck most of Argentina, all of Uruguay, and parts of Paraguay, leaving an estimated total of 48 million people without electrical supply.

The 2020 Sri Lankan blackouts were a series of electrical blackouts that occurred on 17 August 2020, beginning around 12.30 pm SLST (UTC+5:30) and lasting over seven hours. The nationwide blackouts occurred due to a transmission technical failure at the Kerawalapitiya Grid-Sub station. The Ministry of Power appointed a special committee to investigate the root cause behind the blackout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moore County substation attack</span> Attack on power substations in Moore County, North Carolina

On December 3, 2022, a shooting attack was carried out on two electrical distribution substations located in Moore County, North Carolina, United States. Damage from the attack left up to 40,000 residential and business customers without electrical power. Initial estimates were that up to four days could be required to fully restore power in the area. A state of emergency and corresponding curfew were enacted by local government officials in the wake of the incident.

References

  1. ↑ La Tercera (24 September 2011). "Corte de luz afecta desde la Tercera a la Octava Región". COPESA. Archived from the original on 25 September 2011. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  2. ↑ Ricke Muñoz, Eduardo (24 September 2011). "Comunicado del CDEC SIC "Apagón del SIC"" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Widespread power blackout darkens much of Chile; subway riders evacuated in capital". The Washington Post . Associated Press. 24 September 2011. Retrieved 25 September 2011.[ dead link ]
  4. 1 2 3 cccecec
  5. 1 2 3 "Blackout plunges Chile's capital into darkness". Agence France-Presse. 24 September 2011. Archived from the original on 24 November 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  6. 1 2 3 Avila, Moises; Gardner, Simon (24 September 2011). "UPDATE 4-Power blackout hits Chile, halts copper mines". Reuters . Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  7. ↑ "SEC formula cargos contra TRANSELEC, ENDESA, COLBÚN y CHILECTRA por el blackout del "24S"". 6 December 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.