60 Million in the Dark in Brazil
60 Million in the Dark in Brazil
Associated Press,Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Heavy rain, lightning and strong winds caused blackouts that left nearly a third of Brazilians — 60 million people — in the dark, officials said Wednesday as they scrambled to restore confidence in the country’s infrastructure before soccer’s 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.
The blackout cut electricity to 18 of Brazil’s 26 states and left them without power for up to four hours Tuesday night. The federal district that includes the national capital of Brasilia was spared. About 7 million people also lost water service in Sao Paulo. All of Paraguay briefly lost power.
Lobao said Silva’s government has invested about $13 billion in the transmission lines, and another $4.7 billion in transformers since 2003.
The energy minister also defended the strength of the Brazilian system — pointing out that it took a day to fully restore power after a blackout hit the East Coast of the U.S. and Canada in 2003, leaving 50 million people in the dark. He mentioned lengthier in blackouts other nations, including Italy and Japan.
Sounds like a great reason to go green – renewable, distributed technologies such as solar PV, wind turbines, smaller bio-mass generators, etc.
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Filed under: Grid
