Massive blackouts affect almost half of Argentina

Millions in Argentina were left without power on Thursday after high-voltage transmission lines went out of service, triggering a partial shutdown of the electricity system for safety reasons — disconnecting nuclear and petrochemical plants from the national grid.

The incident affected the most populated areas of the country. Large cities such as Mendoza were left almost 100 percent in the dark, while approximately half of users in Buenos Aires city suffered from downtime. Government estimates say 20 million users experienced loss of service. 

The problem began in the afternoon, when a high-voltage line north of Buenos Aires caught on fire for reasons that remain unclear, cutting more than 10,000 megawatts (MW) of capacity from Argentina’s national power grid. The country normally needs at least 25,000 MW to function properly on warm summer days like yesterday.

Economy Minister Sergio Massa filed a judicial complaint requesting that the possibility of sabotage be investigated, and demanding that “those responsible for these grave incidents be taken into custody.”

The government is convinced that the fires were set on purpose, though not necessarily as a result of sabotage. The power lines in question pass through Argentina’s Pampas region, where landowners often burn their land to facilitate production. One of those fires may have gotten out of control.

Electricity supply is a highly politicized topic in Argentina, given the cheap tariffs paid by residential users in Buenos Aires, helped by subsidies from the national government. Those subsidies have taken a toll on public finances, while the cheap tariffs have also made it difficult to invest in and maintain infrastructure, leading to some power outages.

Former center-right President Mauricio Macri’s attempts to raise electricity rates led to protests across Buenos Aires, while his center-left successor Alberto Fernández has returned to cheap power policies.

Most Argentinians had electricity service restored by last night.

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