Huge blackout exposes vulnerability of world’s main copper supplier energy grid — MercoPress
This is what happens when the lights go out, just for two hours in this case. If the Greens in the West get their way, this is what we would be adapting to, not global warming.
“A massive power blackout on Saturday paralyzed crucial copper mines in Chile and darkened vast swaths of the country including the capital Santiago before energy started to be restored, officials said.
Energy Minister Rodrigo Alvarez said the cause of the blackout has not been definitively determined but he cited “oscillation problems” in two power lines and a failure in a computer system.”
Deputy Interior Secretary Rodrigo Ubilla said that the situation forced thousands in the capital to be evacuated from trains or subway cars. Similarly one supermarket in the capital had been looted, adding that police and authorities were providing security during the blackout.”
I am not saying this was the reason, but Chile has been bitten by the Wind Bug:
Chile’s Totoral Wind Farm, which provides low-carbon electricity to 20,000 homes and saves about 75,000 tons of carbon per year, was financed in part with a $61.5 million loan from the International Finance Corporation. The 46-megawatt wind farm, 300 km north of Santiago, was inaugurated months ahead of schedule in January 2010.
Chile bets on wind power Sept 2009
“Although currently only 0.15 percent of Chile’s electricity is generated by wind power, the situation is expected to change over the next two years.
The 23 wind farms planned or being built in Antofagasta, Coquimbo, Valparaiso and Biobio will have a total installed capacity of 1,800 MW, the equivalent of 15 percent of the energy now being generated by conventional power plants.
