Ecuador has restored power after a massive blackout that left 18 million people without electricity
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- Role, BBC News World
Ecuador suffered a nationwide blackout this Wednesday, leaving approximately 18 million people without electricity for more than half an hour.
This service, which affected practically the entire country, was restored up to 95% Public Works Minister Roberto Luque confirmed this in the afternoon.
Luke, who also holds the executive energy portfolio, attributed the power outage to a breakdown of a transmission line.
Quito’s metro system crashed and traffic lights stopped working on Wednesday afternoon.
Apart from the capital, they were left without power supply Guayaquil, Cuenca and Mantaamong other cities.
A “waterfall disconnection”
Officials assured that the National Electricity Operator (CNES) reported the fault and immediately began efforts to resolve it.
“The immediate report we received from the service is that there is a fault in the transmission line which has caused this A widespread disconnectSo there is no energy service at national level,” Minister Luque published on social networks
“The incident must have been serious because it also left the metro, which has its own independent system, without power,” Quito Mayor Pabel Muñoz told X.
The Quito Metro, for its part, confirmed in a statement that services were disrupted “due to a widespread failure of the interconnected national electric power system.”
In April, the drought forced the government to announce A series of planned blackouts Due to which major cities remained without electricity for hours.
Most of the country’s electrical energy comes from neighboring Colombia.
This widespread blackout has occurred just two days after the government ruled out the possibility of a blackout.
Ecuador’s main power plant, the Coca-Codo-Sinclair hydroelectric power plant, was taken out of service on Monday to prevent damage caused by heavy rains.
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