“We have never gone so long without knowing the origin of a blackout”, says former general director of ONS – 08/15/2023 – Market

Engineer Luiz Eduardo Barata considers it “surprising” and “unbelievable” that the day ended without Brazil knowing where and how the blackout on Tuesday (15) began.

“I can say with certainty that, given his technological level, he should have already known which lines had problems”, he says.

Barata is one of the most experienced professionals still active in the electricity sector. He was executive secretary of the MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy) and general director of the ONS (National Electric System Operator). According to him, regulatory bodies are able to identify the origin of a problem immediately after it occurs.

The minister stated that there was more than one failure, but he could not say what happened. Is this lack of definition normal for so long? For a blackout of this size, what we call a simple contingency—the output of a single line cannot have occurred. A disturbance of this magnitude usually occurs when events occur simultaneously. What they were still hasn’t been said, and that’s unbelievable.

Why? We’ve never gone this long without knowing. Ten hours after the disturbance, we have not heard from the ONS, which is responsible for the operation, exactly what happened. I can say with certainty that, given his technological level, he should have already known which lines had problems. Unfortunately, from the minister’s interview [Alexandre Silveira], it was not possible to specify what happened. We agree that the country’s energy situation is exceptional and there is no risk of supply. But loggers show where this type of event occurs.

What are registrars? Loggers are devices in the system that identify what happened. I left the ONS three years ago. He was very well equipped. It is surprising that the location of the disturbance is not known until this time. [a entrevista foi às 19h15]. In all major riots, immediately after the event you know where it started and what happened. Then, of course, you’ll see what else happened, but you’ll know the cause right away. I say this without fear of making mistakes. The minister’s concern was to talk about the privatization of Eletrobras and we do not have basic information so far.

The fact that Eletrobras is privatized compromises the analysis system technique? No way. I’ll give you an example. I was responsible for Operations at the ONS during the 2009 blackout. It took us more than ten hours to rebuild the system. I spent the night awake. But at the same time it happened, we knew that the problem was in three Itaipu lines. I cannot explain what we are seeing today. I can only say that I am sad.