Several regions of Brazil registered power outages on Tuesday morning (15). Reports of the “blackout” began around 8:30 am and most were concentrated in cities in the North and Northeast regions. The Federal District (DF) was also affected.
In Fortaleza (CE) and Teresina (PI), for example, traffic lights went out, causing traffic jams. In the state of Piauí, there were even reports of people getting stuck in elevators.
In Salvador (BA), there were impacts on subway service, with trains coming to a standstill after a power outage. In São Paulo (SP), the same problem was observed, with reports of delays on the Yellow Line of the subway.
In Santa Catarina (SC), around 9 am, at least 593 consumer units were without power. There were also power outages in neighborhoods of Belo Horizonte (BH), as well as in other regions of the country. It is estimated that at least 15 states were affected.
What happened?
In a note, the ONS (National Electric System Operator) reported an incident on the operating network of without (National Interconnected System) interrupted 16 thousand MW of load in states in the North and Northeast of Brazil. States in the Southeast were also affected, according to the agency.
"The interruption occurred due to the opening, at 8:31 am, of the North/Southeast interconnection. The causes of the occurrence are still being investigated. Restoration has already begun in all regions and by 9:16 am, 6 MW had already been restored," said the Operator.
Sandoval Feitosa, general director of ANEEL The National Electric Energy Agency clarified that the situation is being monitored by the relevant authorities and companies that serve the affected regions.
“We are having a supply problem in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil. The Ministry of Mines and Energy, the National Electric System Operator, the ANEEL and the companies involved are currently monitoring and taking all necessary measures to quickly restore the system,” he said.
“The Ministry of Mines and Energy informed the Agency and other agents that it will establish a group to analyze and study the causes of this event […]. As soon as we have more information, we will communicate together with the Ministry of Mines and Energy and ONS the measures that are being taken, as well as the procedures and measures for the service to be reestablished”, he added.
An answer
It is important that the disconnection occurred.
It means that our protection system is efficient.
Separation and the consequent reduction in supply are known episodes in a transmission system the size of SIN (National Integrated System).
Occurrences like these have already occurred in several other circumstances.
When it was reported that there was an “overload/”, I found it curious for the following reasons: 1) it was not peak time; 2) when there are overloads, the system is gradually relieved (in technical English “load shedding”) and there is no consequence like this.
Apparently the situation that occurred has nothing to do with overload or problems with the privatization of ELETROBRAS.
And it was such a remediable occurrence that the entire system was reestablished in a short time.
Congratulations to the ONS and concessionaires involved in the case.