Power outages increase in the AMBA due to the peak of consumption due to the oppressive heat: there are more than 70 thousand users affected

Last Tuesday 700,000 users of the Metropolitan Area of ​​Buenos Aires were affected by the cuts

The Argentine electricity grid once again suffered from failures due to the demand for record demand in the midst of the heat wave that has affected different parts of the country since the beginning of this week. After 2:00 p.m., the data from the Argentine Interconnection System (SADI) published by Cammesa showed a drop in demand and generation with a focus on the Northeast of the country. The Metropolitan Area of ​​Buenos Aires was also affected.

The fault is the second of relevance on this Friday of extreme heat. Early in the morning, 150,000 users in the north of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and neighboring towns of Greater Buenos Aires were left without service for approximately one hour when a distribution substation failed, which was quickly compensated by redirecting the load through other facilities. neighbors

Maps of power outages in the AMBA (Infographic Marcelo Regalado)

In a statement, the National Electricity Regulatory Entity (ENRE) reported that “at 2:13 p.m. the 220 kV Ezeiza – Zappalorto High Voltage Line 64 went out of service, affecting the High Voltage Line 640 of 132 kV Zappalorto – Merlo, causing a decrease in demand of 850 MW in the western area of ​​GBA, leaving approximately 300,000 Edenor users without service”. The problem was fixed an hour later.

Buenos Aires neighborhoods affected by power outages

In any case, at 4:20 p.m., the ENRE pages reported more than 70,000 users without service in the Edenor (13,891) and Edesur (63,615) concession areas.

The ENRE map detailed problems in Buenos Aires neighborhoods such as Caballito, Liniers, Mataderos, Parque Patricios, San Cristóbal, Villa General Miter, Barracas, Constitución, Flores, Parque Chacabuco, Retiro, Villa Lugano, Villa Riachuelo and Villa Santa Rita.

The Buenos Aires towns affected by power outages

In Greater Buenos Aires, Escobar is one of the most affected parties. Canning and San Vicente also stood out for the number of service interruptions. There are also courts in the towns of La Matanza, Marcos Paz, Merlo, Tigre, Ituzaingó, Moreno, Morón, San Isidro, San Miguel, Vicente López, Almirante Brown, Avellaneda, Ezeiza, Lomas de Zamora, Quilmes, Esteban Echeverría, Lanús and President Peron.

Source: Cammesa

At 2:10 p.m., data from Cammesa showed that electricity demand from the Argentine Interconnection System (SADI) reached 28,132 MW, a new historical record. The previous record did not last long: it was the previous day, Thursday, January 13, when at 3:14 p.m. a peak of 27,550 MW had been reached.

official monitoring

The members of SINAGIR (National System for Comprehensive Risk Management) met again this afternoon to evaluate the response of the electrical system. Also the fires and the drought that affect a large part of Argentina will enter the agenda of the organization that also has Aníbal Fernández as its visible head.

“Between 1 and 4 p.m. the peak is expected this Friday,” said SINAGIR spokesmen. Although the alerts will last at least until this Saturday, where temperatures will remain around 38 degrees in the AMBA. During the weekend, according to the National Meteorological Service, rains and storms are expected that will reduce the high temperatures. They seek to avoid the problems of Tuesday, January 11, when with the temperature at 41 degrees, a major outage left 700,000 users without electricity service.

They import energy from Brazil

At 12:41 p.m. today, Argentina began importing electricity from Brazil to cover peak demand in the midst of a heat wave that lasted throughout this week. The exchange system, designed to compensate for energy shortages, was put into operation shortly before the demand for electricity reached a new historical record, according to data from Cammesa.

According to sources from the Ministry of Energy, shortly before 1:00 p.m., Argentina began to import Brazilian energy. As detailed from the unit led by Darío Martínez, at that time the exchange was approximately 490 MW.

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