|
September 05
Power blackout hits parts of Caracas area and metro system
People living in the eastern part of Venezuela's capital had an unusual Sunday on September 5. At 9:43 a.m. there were fires in 4 electrical substations. As a result, there were outages in the morning and part of the afternoon in several areas of Caracas. The cities of Guarenas and Guatire, in the suburbs of Caracas, were also hit, and as it if not were enough, the activities of line 1 of Caracas Subway system were halted from Chacao to Palo Verde stations, in the eastern part of the city.
There was total chaos during some hours. At noon, Caracas subway resumed operations. Meanwhile, the Caracas District Fire Department did not report major emergencies.
At about 10 a.m., Lourdes Musso, the transmission manager of the state-run National Electric Corporation (Corpoelec) said that circuits 130, 69 and 230 of the Papelón-Convento substation had been hit.
September 06
Venezuelan authorities to investigate alleged sabotage of electricity
Venezuelan Vice-President Elías Jaua promised that the national government is to investigate into alleged sabotage of the electricity grid last weekend in eastern Anzoátegui state and Caracas.
"We are going to investigate together with intelligence bodies into yesterday's (September 5) events in Palo Verde (eastern Caracas) and what is happening in Barcelona and Puerto La Cruz (Anzoátegui state), where we have almost 15 days of continued outage and blasts in substations."
"Electricity grids are highly vulnerable and can be easily sabotaged, because anything can look like an electrical failure. Anything can create a short circuit," Jaua said.
September 07
Venezuelan power grid hit by lack of maintenance
While Venezuelan authorities claim that the power system of the Caracas metropolitan area is extremely safe, two major power blackouts hit the capital city in just eight days. On August 28 and September 5, power supply was disrupted in the area served by state-run power utility Electricidad de Caracas (EDC).
Both events occurred coincidentally during weekends, when power demand declines, and at a time of school holidays. Therefore, at the time of the power outages, consumption was not at its average historical level.
Jorge Pirela, a former general manager of EDC, said that the state-run utility is facing distribution and transmission problems rather than power generation issues. According to a report issued by EDC, a subsidiary of the National Electric Corporation (Corpoelec), the power outage recorded on September 5 in some sectors of the cities of Guarenas and Guatire, in the outskirts of Caracas, and some neighborhoods in the eastern part of the city, "was caused by a fire at the Palo Verde electrical substation."
Pirela acknowledged that he did not know all details related to the blackout. However, he said that "it is difficult to understand how an event at Palo Verde (eastern Caracas) could spread so much," particularly to Caracas suburbs.
He said that the Papelón-Convento substation, which was mentioned by a government spokeswoman, "is the safest and most reliable substation in the system."
According to university professor Jesús Rafael Pacheco, the failure "occurred in the auxiliary systems of the Palo Verde substation."
When the substation failed, direct current did not feed the system protection mechanisms. Such mechanisms -which are intended to prevent further damage to the electricity grid- were not triggered. Therefore, a fire occurred in the board. The fire reached the Convento substation, on the slopes of Avila hill, north Caracas.
Later, he added, "transformers came out of service and power lines close to the substation were switched off." The expert explained that the original failure, i.e. the lack of direct current to the protection mechanisms, "is due to the lack of maintenance and monitoring" by EDC.
New power failures likely in Caracas, expert says
Guillermo Ovalles, the former president of Venezuelan electricity distribution company Elecentro and current president of the Commission on Electric Power, Venezuelan Federation of Trade and Industry Chambers (Fedecámaras), considers that the power failures recorded in recent days in Caracas are the result of a saturation of transmission and distribution equipments rather than sabotage plans.
"The equipments are heavily used. They can not withstand the present load and demand," Ovalles told El Universal. He added that power transformers are working beyond their capacity.
Ovalles agrees with Jorge Pirela, a former general manager of EDC, who said that he does not understand why the failure in the Palo Verde power substation hit so many power facilities.
The former president of Elecentro fears that there could be more power failures in the Venezuelan capital due to malfunction of power equipments.
September 08
Authorities do not rule out sabotage in Venezuelan electricity plants
Venezuelan authorities continue to conduct investigations to determine the causes of the frequent power outages occurred in recent weeks throughout Venezuela. Genel Severeyn, the director of operations in state-run power utility Electricidad de Caracas (EDC), said that "sabotage" of power substations is one of the likely causes behind such blackouts.
Blackouts have been occurring frequently at a time when the Guri dam -the major source of electricity in Venezuela- is about to reach its optimum level.
Severeyn highlighted that the blackouts that have hit the Venezuela's power grid recently have been the result of transmission breakdowns, rather than usual distribution problems, which has caught his attention.
The EDC official added that maintenance works have been performed timely.
Venezuelan power distribution grid works with 10-30 percent overload
Venezuela's power grid has been recently hit by a number of electrical failures. The most recent events are related with explosions and fires in distribution networks, substations and transformers.
Many likely reasons are behind power outages, which show the system's vulnerability. "The power grid operates with a 10-30 percent overload," said José Manuel Aller, an academic expert at Simón Bolívar University.
According to the expert and professor in power generation, substations should operate or facilitate the transport of energy, in accordance with international standards (up to 80 percent). However, they are working at 110 percent or even 130 percent in the eastern region of the country, particularly in the states of Anzoátegui and Sucre. This means that "the rated limits have been exceeded," Aller added.
The expert stressed that electric equipments are worn out and there are no laboratories to check them.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
