The effects of a heat wave leave half Buenos Aires without electricity

A heat wave that affects much of Argentina on Tuesday caused a major power outage in the city of Buenos Aires and its surroundings, which also affected water treatment plants.

The temperature in the Argentine capital exceeded 40 degrees at noon on Tuesday, which generated a significant increase in the demand for energy to cool homes and businesses. The two electricity distributors in the area, Edenor and Edesur, reported power outages.

According to the National Electricity Regulatory Entity (ENRE), Edenor’s supply cut was due to an event in the San Martín area, in the province of Buenos Aires.

“These failures produced a cut of approximately 1,800MW, it is estimated that some 700,000 users are affected by the event,” ENRE said in a statement.

On the other hand, on its official website the ENRE reported about 43,400 Edesur customers without power supply at 3:39 pm local time.

Later, Edesur reported on Twitter that a failure in the high voltage lines caused the decommissioning of two of its substations. “Of the 1,800 MW involved, 150 MW affect the normal supply of our concession area,” he added.

Dozens of traffic lights in different neighborhoods of Buenos Aires were out of service and the company EDEN, which distributes electricity in the interior of the province of Buenos Aires, told Reuters that it will carry out selective cuts in some large cities to be able to cope with the greater demand.

AySA, which provides drinking water in Buenos Aires, asked the population to optimize the use of water because the cuts affected its purification system.

“Due to a power supply cut in the San Martín and Juan Manuel de Rosas water treatment plants and in the Elevator Stations that arise from them, AySA asks its users for a rational use of the drinking water service in the City of Buenos Aires and in the North and West Zone of the Buenos Aires suburbs, “he said in a statement.

High temperatures will continue throughout the week with peaks close to 40 degrees, according to the National Meteorological Service (SMN).

Power generation and distribution companies have been the focus of criticism for alleged lack of investment to improve their services in recent years, when rates were relegated with respect to inflation and the variation in the exchange rate.

“The SMN issued a warning in anticipation of an extreme heat wave this week, with temperatures that could reach 41 ° in the concession area,” Edesur said in an email to its clients. “We are working to strengthen our network in the face of growing demand,” he added.





Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx

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