World News
Nationwide Blackout Hits Ecuador
A blackout hit the whole of Ecuador on Wednesday, leaving the nation of 18 million without power.
Energy Minister Roberto Luque blamed the massive outage on a incident with a transmission line in southern Ecuador which triggered a “cascading disconnection.”
The blackout was the first of its kind in 20 years and “shows how fragile our system is, and reflects the energy crisis we’re experiencing,” Luque told reporters in Guayaquil.
At 7 p.m. local time, 95% of power service was restored and full service is expected to resume before midnight local time, according to the government.
Read More: Ecuador Suspends Visa Deal With China Due to ‘Worrying Increase in Migratory Flows’
Quito’s Mayor Pabel Muñoz said that the capital’s recently-inaugurated subway, which has an independent backup power supply, also stopped running.
Ecuador last suffered a series of rolling blackouts early this year amid a severe drought. Heavy rains in recent days however also forced the disconnection of the nation’s biggest hydroelectric plant because of a risk from erosion, which also led private pipeline operator Oleoducto de Crudos Pesados Ecuador SA to shut down its pipeline and declare force majeure.
With proper investment and maintenance of transmission lines, this incident would have been avoided, Luque said. Plans to prevent a total blackout were prepared two decades ago after the previous one and never implemented, he added.
-
World News1d ago
Inside Ukraine’s Effort to Win Over Donald Trump
-
World News1d ago
What to Know About Japan’s LDP Election—and the Possibility of a First Female Prime Minister
-
World News1d ago
Japan Reverses Conviction of 88-Year-Old World’s Longest-Serving Death-Row Inmate
-
World News1d ago
China’s Bold Stimulus Measures Won’t Save Its Flagging Economy
-
World News1d ago
U.S., European Allies, and Arab Powers Propose Israel-Hezbollah Ceasefire to Avert All-Out War
-
World News1d ago
Israeli Army Chief Says Military Is Preparing for Possible Ground Operation in Lebanon
-
World News2d ago
How a Fake Brad Pitt Scam Resulted in Losses of Over $300,000 and Multiple Arrests
-
World News2d ago
TIME Is Looking For the World’s Top GreenTech Companies