Power outage in Chile plunges capital into darkness, hits major copper mines

SANTIAGO - A massive power outage across Chile plunged the country’s capital Santiago into darkness on Feb 25 and knocked out electricity to major copper mines in the country’s north, buffeting global metal markets.

Hours after the outage began and as darkness fell, the Chilean government announced a state of emergency and established a curfew from 10pm to 6am from the northern region of Arica to the southern region of Los Lagos.

The widespread blackout was caused by a transmission line failure in the country’s north, said Interior Minister Carolina Toha, ruling out a cyber attack as a cause.

Chile’s largest power cut in years saw streetlights in the capital go dark, while sirens from emergency vehicles blared across the city, according to Reuters witnesses. The Santiago metro, which transports millions of passengers, was closed and passengers were evacuated from stalled trains.

“There’s nothing. There’s no cash. No money. Nothing,” said Mr Jose Luis Orlandini, who was eating in downtown Santiago when the outage hit.

The Interior Ministry said it was deploying the armed forces across the country to help maintain order.

As at 10pm, about a quarter of the electrical grid’s demand was back on line, and power could be fully restored by morning, said Mr Juan Carlos Olmedo, board president of Chile’s National Electricity Coordinator (CEN).

In a late-night television address to the nation, Chilean President Gabriel Boric said eight million homes had been affected, but power had been restored to about half of them.

“What happened today is outrageous because it’s not tolerable that one or several companies impact the everyday life of millions of Chileans, and that’s why it’s the state’s duty to hold them responsible,” Mr Boric said.

Residents in the neighbourhood of Providencia in the capital cheered as lights flickered back on.

CEN said it was still investigating the cause of the outage. “We’ve activated several power stations, mainly hydroelectric stations,” said CEN executive director Ernesto Huber.

Copper mines hit

The outage hit areas from the mining-intensive north to the central and southern regions home to most of the Andean country’s population, and operations at key copper mines were affected. Chile is the world’s top copper producer.

Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, was without electricity, a source close to the matter told Reuters, while state-owned copper miner Codelco said all its mines had been affected.

The Chuquicamata, Andina, Salvador and El Teniente mines were without power, and its other mines were using backup power generation to operate on a partial basis, Codelco said.

Antofagasta and Anglo American both said their mines were operating with generators.

The power outage affected the country from the northern Arica and Parinacota region to the southern Los Lagos region, according to Chile’s national disaster prevention and response service Senapred. No emergency situations have been reported.

Chile’s DGAC Civil Aviation Authority said Santiago’s Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport was operating normally, but Latam Airlines said some flights could be affected by the outage. REUTERS