The company thus questions the reason why the service could not be restored early, distancing itself from the various failures in the restoration that the Government pointed out.
ISA Interchile, a subsidiary of the ISA Group of Colombia, has been held responsible for the failure that triggered the massive power outage that occurred last Tuesday and affected 99% of the population in Chile.
The company, through a statement issued early Wednesday morning, explained that on Tuesday 25th at 3:16 pm, an event occurred that affected the double-circuit Electric Transmission Line, Nueva Maitencillo - Nueva Pan de Azúcar, which operates at 500 thousand volts, between Vallenar and Coquimbo, at which time it was transporting approximately 1,800 MW in total. "This event triggered the unavailability of the electric service that affected the country," it detailed.
“From the very beginning, all coordination capabilities and on-site teams were mobilized to restore the line's availability as soon as possible, which was achieved at 4:00 p.m., 44 minutes after the event began, making it available for incorporation into the service restoration plan,” said Luis Llano, general manager of the company.
The company thus questions the reason why the service could not be restored at that time, distancing itself from the -at least- "three failures" in the restoration that the Minister of Energy, Diego Pardow, reported on Tuesday afternoon.
For now, the company continues to investigate the reasons for the incident that occurred on the line, initially caused by the unwanted activation of its protection schemes, which caused the automatic disconnection of both circuits. They also assured that they will collaborate with the investigation corresponding to the unavailability of the electric service that affected the country and its recovery plan.
At the same time, ISA Interchile highlighted that the protections are sophisticated electronic and software systems, which communicate via optical fiber from end to end (approximately 200 km) and are crucial for the correct operation of the line by preventing a long-term and larger failure. In this case, the protection scheme operated without the existence of a real fault on the line.
“The Interchile team has been in continuous coordination with the technical authority and will continue working tirelessly to advance the corresponding investigations,” concluded Luis Llano.
