Chile Forum

eeuunikkeiexpat wrote:I don't know, if you get a landline, stick to the old and proven Telefonica (now Movistar) system as they were around before the cable telephone vendors.

I have through a number of years of blackouts in Santiago and on the coast always found them up and running (dial tone which does not mean you will get through if the entire communication infrastructure is maxed), even had dial tone after the 8.3 (localized) quake.

Late last night/early morning because of the blackout, my pareja in Santiago could not get through to me on the coast via our Movistar cells (not even text messaging) but she could use that same Movistar cell to call my Telefonica/Movistar landline.

SO I have found the old copper based landline system ultra reliable in terms of being the last to go out and the first to be active after an "event."

eeuunikkeiexpat wrote:If the system is that weakened, there recently was a CME that should reach earth around Wednesday.

These events have been linked to electric grid failures in the past (not to mention earthquakes).

So keep them candles, flashlights and batteries handy. My generator died on my bencina blanca Coleman lantern yesterday.

Dagny wrote:

eeuunikkeiexpat wrote:had to look that one up - Coronal Mass Ejections - aka - solar flares

Chile's main power grid, which supplies electricity to about 90% of the population, will remain unstable for about a week following a blackout Sunday, President Sebastian Pinera said Monday.

He said the blackout, which resulted from a damaged transformer at one of the grid's substations, was a consequence of the massive earthquake that hit the country in late February.

"The blackout was undoubtedly linked to the Feb. 27 earthquake as it damaged the transformer" that burned out Sunday, Pinera said at an event inaugurating the school year.

The recently inaugurated president vowed that the damaged transformer would be repaired within 48 hours and that the transmission lines would be stabilized in a week.

"In the next seven days, we'll have a stabilized electricity system," Pinera said.

Chileans, already spooked by one of the strongest earthquakes on record and the hundreds of aftershocks that have continued to shake the country, found themselves in the dark Sunday night.

Power was restored slowly throughout the SIC grid and, by Monday morning, 98% of supply was reestablished, the country's National Emergency Office, or Onemi, said.

Energy Minister Ricardo Raineri, meanwhile, said he didn't rule out more blackouts as the SIC grid, which runs from the northern area of Tal-Tal to the southern island of Chiloe, is still vulnerable.

"It's possible, but for now we're asking everyone to help us out by using electricity moderately; until we can restore [grid] security, the situation will remain critical," Raineri told reporters.

The SIC grid has a gross installed capacity of about 9,400 megawatts, with 52% of that capacity coming from hydroelectric generators.

“Things like this could happen in the future,” Energy Minister Ricardo Raineri told reporters in Santiago yesterday. “Recovering the systems is a difficult task” after the Feb. 27 quake, and there may be blackouts for “months,” he said.

Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, said back-up systems were used in several of its mines during the power cut.

Atlantis wrote:I wonder how much this will push the vote for the building of the mega dams in the south.

Pinera said he plans to rewrite the 2010 budget to free resources for a reconstruction fund. Chile has $11.3 billion invested overseas in an economic stabilization fund that the government can use to finance a budget deficit.

admin wrote:

Atlantis wrote:I wonder how much this will push the vote for the building of the mega dams in the south.

It was power from the south as I understand it that caused the blackout. It was a central distribution station in the Bio-bio region that took out the whole grid. How about wave power? There does not seem to be shortage of that recently.

Stoph wrote:No black out in Antofagasta