The Dominican Association of the Electrical Industry (ADIE) reported that the blackout that left several areas of the country without power as of the afternoon and into the evening of Monday, 17 February 2020 is under investigation. The power outage affected half of the national power grid supply.
“This event led to the opening (disconnection) of multiple electricity transmission lines, which in turn led to the shutdown of several generation plants,” the entity explained in a press release.
In the early evening, Manuel Cabral, president of ADIE, said the system was returning to normalcy. Cabral said the problem was caused by “an incident” that led the new Punta Catalina I to disconnect from the system, which then triggered the disconnection of several electricity transmission lines and the shutdown of other power generators.
The blackout occurred at about 3:46 pm, according to a report by the Energy Control Center of the Dominican Electric Transmission Company (ETED)
The statement said the situation mainly affected the eastern and central areas of the country, including Greater Santo Domingo, San Pedro de Macorís, among others.
The unexpected power outage affected the operations of the Santo Domingo Metro and Skylift.
The executive director of the Public Electricity Corporation (CDEEE) Rubén Jiménez Bichara explained that a spike in the high-tension lines was what caused the blackout. He says Itabo and Punta Catalina units were shut down for security reasons. He said service was being gradually restored.
“It’s a failure that has nothing to do with a generation deficit,” he told N Digital.
The official explained that technicians are investigating the reasons for the situation that originated in the Julio Sauri and Palamara substations.
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18 February 2020