This event immediately brought back memories of the total blackout that occurred on Father’s Day 2019 during the government of Mauricio Macri, which left almost 50 million people without electricity among those affected in Argentina and, due to its impact on part of the high voltage networks, also in Brazil and the Republic of Uruguay.
Returning to this week’s cut, in the midst of the uncertainty of what happened it was possible to observe how minutes after the collapse, the inks of the major newspapers and the media pointed their headlines against the Atucha I Nuclear Power Plant “Juan Domingo Peron” as the cause of the event that left half the country without electricity.
In this way, an attempt was made to discredit and bring fear to the population about the National Nuclear Power Plants, this being a cutting-edge sector in the national scientific-technological development, in which the country has consolidated itself due to its trajectory of more than 70 years of work. in the core area.
However, the shutdown of Atucha I was the result of the failure of the 500 kV high-voltage transmission system, as reported by the company that manages the electricity market, CAMMESA: “Starting at 3:59 p.m., according to what Transener reported, short circuits as a consequence of a field fire caused the sequential disconnection of the three High Voltage Lines that link the General Rodríguez Transformer Station with the Coastal area”.
About, Jose Luis Antunezpresident of Nucleoeléctrica Argentina SA, said that “The high voltage line goes out of service due to the soot produced by the fire, which, when deposited on the lines and insulators, arrives at a time when an arc to ground occurs (…) and the line goes out of service. As a result of the loss of load from the system, Atucha I went out of service, it also happened to Embalse, like many other plants, since there was nowhere to send the production [de energía] we must turn off the machine.”
Besides, Santiago YanottiUndersecretary of Energy, reported that “There was a fire eight kilometers from General Rodríguez that affected some high voltage lines. Due to a security issue, when the facilities perceive this threat, they go out of service.”
Consequently, the power outage resulting from the fire, once again focused on Transener, Compañía de Transporte de Energía Eléctrica en Alta Tension Transener SA, a company that was born in 1993, as a result of the privatization promoted by Menemism, seeking to “modernize” the Argentine energy system, which, until now, was fully controlled by the State, and today controlled indirectly by private companies and ENARSA (ex IEASA) both with 50% of Ciltec SA, which owns 51% of the Class A shares of Transener.
Namely, from 2015 to date there has been no expansion or installation of a new kilometer of extra high voltage line. The last large investments occurred in the period 2003-2015, under the presidencies of Nestor Kirchner and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, and the administration of Julio De Vido in the portfolio of the Ministry of Planning through Federal Plans I and II agreed between the Nation and the Provinces.
That is why this fact favors and we must take advantage of it to focus on the great debate that we must have as a country about the administration and control of national energy systems, that is, whether they should be in the hands of the State or in private hands. . Of course, the experience of sector planning during the 90’s in the hands of the “Free market” It has not shown good results, being very far from the promises made of efficiency and good quality services.
Electrical Engineer (UNRC). Master in Energy Management (UNLa). Diploma in Strategic Anticipation and Risk Management (UNDEF). Director of the Observatory of Energy, Science and Technology (OECYT) associated with the Pueblo y Ciencia platform.
Source: Ambito
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