An “important” fire in a 30-hectare pasture in Padilla, Tamaulipas, was what started the imbalance that caused the blackout that affected 10.3 million people in different states of the country, including Mexico City, the Commission explained Tuesday. Federal Electricity (CFE)
“(The fire) is the beginning of the event that we had yesterday (Monday) and what caused it, is something fortuitous based on this perfectly detected fire,” said Noé Peña, CFE official, in a conference virtual press.
Upon detecting the fire, the local Civil Protection was notified, which recorded the event. Due to the meteorological conditions that caused strong winds, the fire spread and as a result two lines went out of service, he added.
Also read: The blackout like yesterday will not be repeated: AMLO
After the fire, various events were unleashed that caused the power outage, Carlos Meléndez, director of the National Center for Energy Control (Cenace), listed.
First, two lines went out of operation, causing an imbalance between energy generation and consumption. Then the protection system was activated that interrupted the flow of energy to keep the balance. As there is a low demand for electricity as usual in winter and a high generation, particularly with the integration of renewable generation, the imbalance occurred.
Cenace added that the participation of renewable energy generators is of an “excessive” level due to what it called a “disarticulation of the national electricity system. In this context, “the reliability of the national interconnected system was lost.”
“Cenace will take the appropriate actions to guarantee reliability”, assured Meléndez.
apr / acmr