Massive blackout leaves Brazil on edge
Posted: 11 November 2009 1414 hrs

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SAO PAULO: A blackout across much of southern Brazil overnight plunged tens of millions of residents in the country's biggest cities into a state of anxiety and raised questions Wednesday over national energy security.

The outage, which started at 10:15 pm Tuesday (0015 GMT Wednesday), originated at the Itaipu hydroelectric plant that straddles the border between Brazil and Paraguay, supplying both with much of their energy needs.

Brazilian Energy Minister Edson Lobao said it was not yet known what caused the unprecedented "complete paralysis" of the entire plant, but speculated that lightning from a storm might have shorted one of the facility's five high-tension supply lines.

The plant provides around 20 per cent of the energy needs of Brazil, Latin America's most populous and economically important nation.

Paraguay, which gets 90 per cent of its electricity from the installation, was virtually without power for at least 15 minutes because of the problem, according to reports.

While Brazil has encountered severe power shortages in the past, notably in 2001, 2005 and 2007, the scale of Tuesday's blackout was extraordinary.

One radio station, Bandnews, estimated that 50 million people, or more than a quarter of Brazil's 190-million-strong population, were suddenly thrown into the dark.

Police in Sao Paulo and Rio, fearing an opportunistic crime wave and accidents because of non-functioning traffic lights, called up off-duty officers and urged the public to stay off the streets.

There were no immediate reports of disturbances, though many residents voiced worries about walking in pitch-black streets.

Itaipu was reactivated within hours and power was progressively restored in the early hours of Wednesday.

Witnesses and officials said its duration was around four hours, with the states of Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Goias, Rio Grande do Sul, Parana and Espirito Santo all affected.

According to the National Electric System Operator, the problem caused 17,000 Megawatts to abruptly disappear from the national energy grid -- a huge amount of electricity that is equivalent to the needs of Sao Paulo and its suburbs, South America's biggest urban agglomeration with 20 million inhabitants.

A "domino effect" meant Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and other major cities and towns were left with no illumination, Itaipu's management said in a statement.

Traffic lights were extinguished, causing most motorists to nose carefully through intersections.

Taxis, normally numerous, were hard to flag down by stranded residents walking the suddenly darkened streets. Some of the drivers said they were wary of armed robbers taking advantage of the emergency.

The metro system in Sao Paulo and Rio suddenly halted, stranding many passengers between underground stations.

Lobao denied that Brazil's energy system was in crisis.

“The system is not fragile. It's the most secure in the world," he told reporters.

The blackout occurred two days after US network CBS aired a report claiming massive power outages in Brazil in 2005 and 2007 were caused by cyber hackers attacking control systems.

Although Brazilian media were sceptical of that assessment, the US channel said those incidents should serve as a wake-up call to the United States, which a former chief of US national intelligence, Mike McConnell, warned could see its power supplies hit by computer sabotage.

- AFP/yb