Energy: our Brazilian standard
I live in the south zone of the São Paulo city. Unplanned outage indicators are always super high. And what would be the reason?
I'm going to venture through a sequence of facts that I observed in my neighbourhood.
This year we have already had 4 long-lasting power outages (many hours each) due to exactly the same problem.
The utility's medium voltage (13 kV) wiring is leaning against trees. With the winds, its insulation scrapes until it reaches the metallic conductor. And then, just one rain, for a short circuit to occur leaving hundreds of houses in the dark.
The utility team comes and improvises. In other words, puts a plastic insulation separating the tree and the conductor in place and reconnect the circuits. OK for a few weeks. Then the problem returns again. Of course, because essentially nothing has changed!
The utility - with this "strategy" (1) needs more teams and trucks to respond to "emergencies" and (2) loses many hours of revenue per year due to supply interruptions.
As there is no inspection by those who should (ANEEL- the regulator and the concessionaire itself) -everything remains as it is. And the costs of this situation borne by customers.
Rafael Herzberg
Expert Member
Top Contributor
Tue, May 2