2010 Chile blackout
Power outage in Chile / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2010 Chile blackout was an electric power outage that affected most of Chile on March 14, 2010. It began at 8:44 pm (23:44 GMT) 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.[1]
The blackout was caused by a failure of a 500 kV transformer at a substation in southern Chile that is part of the Central Interconnected System (SIC). The affected transformer is located around 700 kilometres (430 mi) south of the capital, Santiago.[2] The SIC serves about 93% of the country's population, from Taltal in the north to the Chiloé Island in the south, including Santiago.[1] At one point Santiago was receiving only 8% of the electricity normally required.[2][3]
The blackout interrupted a music concert being held to raise funds for the survivors of the earthquake that had devastated the country two weeks earlier.[2] In addition, thousands of people had to be rescued from the Santiago Metro after 20 trains were immobilised and the telephone network was also affected.[2][4] The fire brigade had to free several people trapped in elevators.[5]
The blackout affected 90% of the population and electric service began to be restored after an hour.[2] Around 98% of people affected had service restored by March 15, 2010.[6] The blackout caused the share price of the Enersis mining group to fall by 1% to a three-month low, although loss of production was minimal there and at other mining companies in the country because of backup generators.[7][8]
President Sebastián Piñera blamed the power failure on the recent earthquake and said the SIC would remain unstable for a week.[9] Other officials stated that the outage was not directly related to the earthquake.[2] The energy minister, Ricardo Raineri, said that the electric transmission grid remains in a fragile state and asked Chileans to restrict their use of electricity.[2] Raineri stated that during the earthquake the "electricity network suffered various damages, be it in transformers, switches and others".[5]
An investigation was started to determine if the failure was due to a lack of maintenance of the transformer.[6] Piñera vowed to get the transformer repaired within 48 hours of the blackout and to get affected transmission lines checked and repaired within seven days.[10]