BlackoutsVulnerable grid: Argentina's nationwide blackout

All of Argentina, and parts of Uruguay, were experienced a power outage which left 50 million people in the dark. Nationwide blackouts such as Sunday’s blackout in Argentina are rare.

So: How did this happen?

DW quotes Edesur, Argentina’s electricity distributor, to say that the blackout was caused by safeguard mechanisms which were activated to protect two of its power-producing stations.

“The grid failure that led to the national blackout originated in an electricity transmission connection between the Yacyreta and Salto Grande power plants on the Argentine coastline,” said Edesur in a statement. “This activated safeguards for the power plants, which then went out of operation and produced the blackout.”

Uruguay’s relies on Argentina for part of its energy needs, so the blackout spread to parts of its territory.

Argentine authorities, however, are still baffled by the fact that one of its electricity transmission connections was unexpectedly disrupted.

Argentina’s Energy Secretary Gustavo Lopetegui said authorities have not ruled out a cyberattack, but noted that it was unlikely. Instead, observers have pointed to infrastructural issues with Argentina’s energy grid.

Since April, an electricity transmission connection between two power plants in Colonia Elia and Nueva Campana has been out of service. DW notes that even with that connection not in service, Argentina’s electrical grid was prepared to withstand another connection being severed from the grid.

But it was unable to. A second connection went offline on Sunday, effectively destabilizing two power stations and triggering safeguard mechanisms which put them out of action. That sent the entire grid offline and created the blackout.

Authorities are investigating how the latter connection was disrupted, with energy officials saying it could take up to fifteen days to determine the cause.