The country in the dark | Responsible for the electrical collapse …

On Sunday, June 16, the Argentine Interconnection System (SADI) collapsed, an unprecedented event in the history of the country 's electricity. In no case what has happened can be separated from the critical economic and financial situation and the contraction of public investments. Much less can be dissociated from the absolute anarchy of the energy sector market.

The situation of the national electricity system in the production and distribution, transport and distribution sectors has deteriorated significantly during change management. And it did so despite the exponential increase in the profits of the private players in the wholesale electricity market (MEM), derived from an extraordinary increase in the rates of the public service of transmission and distribution, as well as the remuneration received by the government. generators of electricity.

The generation of electricity accumulated until May has not only decreased by 8.4%, but is even lower than in 2014 (-0.2%). Industries consume less electricity than in 2013 and fewer households than in 2015. The price of wholesale electric power was dollarized in a context of exchange rate and economy. volatile, supported by IMF loan dollars.

Even in this case, the distribution service interruptions remain constant or deteriorate during the months of high demand (maximum utilization of the system). Just remember that in December 2018 compared to December 2016, the average users of Edenor and Edesur without offer increased by 56% (and with a demand and a temperature lower). In December 2017 compared to the same month in 2016, this indicator had deteriorated by 66%.

On the other hand, it should be recalled that in mid-January, a failure of the Transforadora substation at Morón, owned by Edenor, led to a mbadive blackout in the concession of this company, which also affected Edesur . The fault occurred in the transmission segment. Five months after this episode, the Argentine interconnection system has collapsed. The reality is that the national electricity system is in a critical state, in all its segments and with its key agents (including those of the MEM) beset with problems.

Now, let's adjust the magnifying glbad on the electrical collapse. As we move forward from the OETEC Observatory, the Secretary of Energy, Gustavo Lopetegui, has hidden information about the causes that caused it. Instead of exposing the causes to the company and confronting them, he accused the binational hydroelectric companies Yacyretá and Salto Grande of having been refuted shortly after the press conference of the companies themselves. .

Lopetegui also questioned the level of operation and the reaction of the digitized exploitation and control systems (also erroneous); and even did not rule out the idea of ​​a cyberattack. In any case, the real causes, put forward for us last Monday at 5 pm, were the product of complex investigations. On the contrary, they come from a series of consultations with CAMMESA technicians, weighted by our own researchers.

As the causes are already known, we will focus on highlighting the only responsible. First, the affected high-voltage lines are operated and maintained by Transener, whose technicians knew since 2015 that the famous tower 412 had been compromised. Therefore, here is one of the leaders of the collapse. The owners of the transport company are Grupo Pampa Energía, owned by Marcelo Mindlin, and IEASA (formerly Enarsa); that is to say the national state. However, Transener is responsible for these operations.

Secondly, there were also faults in the company, namely Cammesa. They were not technicians and professionals responsible for this business; yes, on the other hand, his authorities, namely: Mario Cairella (managing director), economist graduated in the United States and trusted man of Lopetegui. On Sunday, November 16th, Cammesa planned the electricity supply mainly with a production of the North-West (Litoral), favoring a cheap energy, but endangering the SADI because of the fragility of the high-voltage lines mentioned . Add to that the technical minimum for thermal production, thus saving natural gas in order not to interrupt its exports, while avoiding to increase imports.

Also related to the Cammesa, during the collapse, electricity was imported from Brazil at zero cost, imports that must be used in case of emergency. However, this early Sunday morning the demand was about 13,000 MW, a volume that rendered the demand of the neighboring country completely useless. With regard to the hydropower imported from Garabí (Brazil), of different frequency, it is more than timely to mention the near-abandonment of the construction of the Santa Cruz dams, today with a 14% degree of progress after having the works, such as they have been inherited, should be operational by January 2020. In summary, Cairella and Juan Garade, Secretary of the Electricity Market from the Energy Secretariat, both also responsible with Transener.

Third, the liability appears in the owner of the lines concerned: Yacylec, a company in which the president of the Nation holds shares. Do Mauricio Macri's responsibilities end here? No. It is the responsibility, as the first authority of the national executive, to have approved the position of Cairella, a man without any technical knowledge of the sector, by granting the Secretary of Energy to Gustavo Lopetegui, who does not It does not have the total capacity to be responsible for the said portfolio. As we have already said, the President of the Nation is the shareholder of the owner of the transmission lines who, with the agreement of the parties, have transferred the operation and maintenance to Transener. Yacylec was not aware that Transener technicians had detected problems with the 412 tower as early as 2015? Finally, and in his war against Electroingeniería, Macri made the decision to paralyze the construction of the high-voltage line Resistencia-Yacyretá, whose advance was 70% (average) and which could have prevented the collapse of the line head on. evacuate to the ringed NEA-NOA.

Finally, at the time of the departure of the line with the bypbad to the tower 412, Sunday, June 16, the factory of Yacyretá could of course have isolated the asynchronism. However, this was not possible because the control system (SCADA) that should have been put in place was obsolete. Because? In 2015, the new President of the Nation decided to withdraw the SCADA modernization contract, already ready to enter into force, signed by Voith, a subsidiary of Siemens. Why did Macri act like this? Because behind this case, they were – and we will have to see if they are – Pescarmona and Nicolás Caputo. In short, Yacyretá lost Voith's modernization plan in 2015 due to its commercial relations with Caputo. The SCADA has not been updated and the current plan is incompatible with the security required by a system such as SADI.

The total collapse of the Argentine electricity system that occurred on June 16 did not originate in a failure or a technical problem, let alone a computerized problem. This Transener is responsible, there is no doubt. However, it is not the only one. Or, to be more precise, the president of the nation and its marketing policy of the national energy system, its transformation into a negotiated VIP (for his friends / relatives / partners) and a platform for the safeguarding of currencies. in order to meet the IMF's fiscal adjustment objectives.