Fire at Brazil power substation causes blackout across several states

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SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -A fire at an energy substation owned by Brazilian firm Eletrobras led to a power outage across several parts of Brazil in the early hours Tuesday, officials said, with a total shutdown of around 10,000 megawatts (MW) of load and more than 1 million consumers affected.

The incident occurred in a reactor at a substation in southern Brazil, shutting down the facility and causing the disconnection of the region, which was exporting around 5,000MW across Brazil, the country’s energy operator ONS said.

In the South, the fire resulted in a loss of approximately 1,600 MW of load. In other regions, an automatic protection mechanism was activated, meant to cut power when the system needs to be rebalanced due to a disturbance.

The Northeast region experienced an interruption of around 1,900 MW, the North region 1,600MW, and the Southeast region 4,800 MW.

Brazil Mines and Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira called the blackout an isolated event that did not happen due to a lack of energy, but rather an infrastructure issue.

“We have greater energy security. This was a one-off episode that ONS responded to promptly,” Silveira said during an interview on local television.

ONS noted the restoration of equipment and load recovery was carried out “safely within the first few minutes”, adding all loads were restored within 2-1/2 hours.

Eletrobras said in a statement it will work with ONS to identify the causes of the event, and that the agency will investigate what led to the broader disturbance in the national interconnected system.

Electricity distributors around the country, as Light and Enel Sao Paulo, reported at least 1.3 million people were affected by the blackout.

(Reporting by Leticia Fucuchima in Sao Paulo and Rodrigo Viga Gaier in Rio de Janeiro; Writing by Fernando Cardoso; Editing by David Gregorio)