Cause of Massive Blackout in Argentina Still Under Investigation, an Industrial Info Market Brief

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A power shutdown on Sunday in Argentina's interconnected electricity system, Sistema Argentino de Interconexión (SADI), left nearly all of the country without power for several hours. Parts of Brazil, Uruguay and Chile also were affected.

Preliminary reports indicated the initial cause of the blackout, which impacted 55 million users, was a small short circuit in a section of the 500-kilovolt (kV) transmission line that feeds the province of Buenos Aires, with electricity coming from 3.2-gigawatt (GW) Yacyreta Hydro Power Plant and 1.9-GW Salto Grande Hydro Power Plant. The system immediately isolated that section, but failed to isolate a new short circuit that occurred in another section of the same line. This section was acting as a bypass of a third section that was unavailable due to the replacement of one of the line towers. SADI was unable to handle the interruption of three sections at the same time and collapsed. The government said that it will take 10 to 14 days to fully determine why the system collapsed.