Enel São Paulo has announced a series of measures to strengthen the prevention and response of the electricity grid to the expected effects of Super El Niño and other weather events for the coming summer.
The distributor, which serves approximately eight million consumer units in 24 municipalities in the São Paulo Metropolitan Region, including the capital, announced that it will expand its operational structure and investments aimed at increasing the resilience of the network.
Among the main measures is the increase in the number of operational bases, which will go from 17 to 23 units, allowing the mobilization of up to three times more teams in critical situations.
The reorganization also includes a new territorial unit dedicated to the ABCD Paulista region and advanced bases to increase the reach of the operation. "The command structure has also been reinforced with the NOC (Critical Operations Center), dedicated to managing critical clients and essential services," the company reported.
The contingency plan also establishes different levels of mobilization according to the predicted severity of weather events and their potential impacts on the network. Preparation begins with weather bulletins covering up to five days.
According to Enel SP, the model allows for the mobilization of professionals for emergency services, maintenance, construction, live line work, tree trimming, automation, underground networks, and other operational areas in advance.
Technology to accelerate network restoration
Another measure announced is the expansion of Starlink satellite communication to approximately 700 emergency response teams. According to the company, the technology will allow them to maintain communication with operations centers even in situations where mobile networks are affected by severe weather events.
In the electrical grid, Enel SP plans to install another 2,6 remote control devices by the end of 2026, bringing the total to more than 14 devices.
According to the company, this equipment allows for remote network maneuvers, reducing the need for teams to travel to certain operations and helping to speed up the restoration of power supply.
For contingency situations, the distributor also reported that it has four mobile substations that can be moved to affected regions, in addition to approximately 700 generator sets intended to support customers and essential services during outages.
The last Super El Niño was 10 years ago: why is the current scenario worrying?
The reinforcement of the operation occurs amid projections for the evolution of El Niño, a natural climatic phenomenon characterized by the above-normal warming of the waters in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean over several months.
Despite occurring thousands of kilometers from Brazil, this alteration interferes with atmospheric circulation and modifies rainfall, wind, and temperature patterns in different regions of the planet.
Under normal conditions, trade winds help concentrate warmer waters toward Asia and Oceania. During El Niño, these winds can weaken, allowing warming to spread across the central and eastern Pacific.
As a result, some regions may experience excessive rainfall, while others face droughts and higher temperatures. In Brazil, one of the patterns historically associated with this phenomenon is increased rainfall in the South and reduced rainfall in parts of the North and Northeast.
This year, extreme weather events have once again highlighted the vulnerability of Brazilian infrastructure in the face of severe weather conditions.
This scenario coincides with the advance of a new El Niño, confirmed in June, which, according to INMET (National Institute of Meteorology), is expected to intensify over the coming months.
According to the agency, the conditions observed in the Pacific Ocean and the model projections indicate a high probability that the phenomenon will reach the classification of "Very Strong," the highest level used by the institute.
The last time the planet faced an event of this magnitude was about a decade ago, between 2015 and 2016. During that period, the strong warming of the Pacific waters altered atmospheric circulation patterns, rainfall, and temperature across different continents, with reports of droughts, floods, fires, and economic losses.
Now, the possibility of another high-intensity event is once again putting meteorological agencies, governments, and companies responsible for energy generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure on alert.
O Canal Solar The magazine published a special report with all the details about the advance of El Niño and its possible impacts on the Brazilian electricity sector in the latest edition of the magazine. Canal Solar.
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