Massive blackout hits Mercosur; Argentina and Uruguay in the dark for six hours; major investigation promised

Monday, June 17th 2019 - 09:55 UTC

Full article 13 comments

A massive blackout left tens of millions of people without electricity in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and parts of Chile and southern Brazil on Sunday. The Argentine president called it an “unprecedented” failure in the countries' interconnected power grid. Read full article

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golfcronie
Dark days for Argentina, EM Is Macri at fault?
Jun 17th, 2019 - 10:17 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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:o))
REF: “Massive blackout hits Mercosur”:

Can't expect much as long as one beggar/bugger depends on the other!
Jun 17th, 2019 - 01:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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jlt
Argentina needs a complete overhaul and everybody needs to tighten their belts for the long haul. The previous Government needs to be locked up. No more social services for those who are physically able to work. Immigration needs to clean up shop. It's now or never.
Jun 17th, 2019 - 02:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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:o))
@jlt

REF: “Argentina needs a complete overhaul”:

Even if you are; please don't SHOW your abject desperation - MORE alms are on their way:
http://www.chargeonline.com.br/php/charges/tacho.jpg
Jun 17th, 2019 - 02:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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imoyaro
Where was Kamerad/Komrade Rique and Gauchito Drink, the “ Torturers Tango Duo” during all this?
Jun 18th, 2019 - 09:01 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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DemonTree
Enrique was in Canada, same as usual, and Think was mysteriously - or not so mysteriously - unaffected.
Jun 18th, 2019 - 11:43 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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:o))
REF: “Massive blackout hits Mercosur”:

= Massive CURRUPTION hits Mercosur
Jun 18th, 2019 - 02:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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golfcronie
How can they respond as they have no power
Jun 18th, 2019 - 05:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Jack Bauer
If not mistaken, Mercosur is a trade agreement - albeit not a very good one - and even if it wasn't (only a trade agreement), Brazil wasn't affected.....
Jun 18th, 2019 - 10:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Enrique Massot
This complete downfall of the transmission network, if thoroughly investigated, will show responsibilities, first in the companies incessant drive to maximize profits in detriment of reliability.

In the 1990s as reported by Wiki, the government of Carlos Menem privatized the whole system, however, he also included some safeguards: vertical and horizontal unbundling of generation, transmission and distribution; opening up of all segments to the private sector; and separation of the regulatory function from policy setting.

However, through the years the law was ignored and the system became vertically and horizontally in the hands of the same or related companies.

To ensure the lowest price for power, the companies took as much as they could from the Yacyreta dam.

However, only two of three extra high voltage lines were working.

The system sent an alarm two days before the blackout -- that alarm was ignored.

Is president Macri responsible? Perhaps not entirely, but he has been president for almost four years now and the state has an entity supposed to keep tabs on the system.

Remains to be seen if some of this comes out from the investigation. Am I holding my breath? Surely not.

DT: Even if I did not suffer the consequences of the outage, I am still interested at what happens in my home country and to the Argentines. Thanks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Argentina
Jun 19th, 2019 - 12:53 am - Link - Report abuse -2
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:o))
@Enrique Massot

REF: “This complete downfall of the transmission network, if thoroughly investigated, will show responsibilities”

Mercosur [mostly tropical countries] had/have more than enough options for generating energy from many different sources - plenty of energy! The shortage is just an excuse to cover-up their incompetence+irresponsibility!
Jun 19th, 2019 - 01:53 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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Enrique Massot
:o))

I agree. However, in this case, it appears a drive to maximize profits by the private companies in charge is the cause.

An ultra high voltage tower that had become corroded, was slated to be replaced in 2015.

Work started three months ago. Three months to replace a tower!

As a result of the tower replacement, one of three lines was out of service. There were other sources other than Yacireta and Salto Grande to draw power from, but these two were the cheapest.

As a result, the two working lines may have been overloaded. According to the government, “one had a short, and the second one went out for unknown reasons.”

imoyaro

Don't you ever tire of writing stupidities?

What the hell it matters where we were during the blackout?

I guess the blackout is a topic that requires to do some digging -- something probably far beyond your capacities.
Jun 19th, 2019 - 05:28 pm - Link - Report abuse -2
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:o))
@Enrique Massot

REF: “it appears a drive to maximize profits by the private companies in charge is the cause”

= Incompetence, Good Old Corruption or BOTH?
Jun 20th, 2019 - 12:47 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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