June 6 (Reuters) - Around 428,000 customers in Santiago, Chile, faced a significant power outage after a fallen tree severely damaged a high-voltage transmission tower at midnight on Thursday, as reported by the national disaster prevention and response service (SENAPRED).

The disruption caused an estimated loss of 260 MW of consumption, equivalent to about 10% of Santiago's total demand, according to the National Electric Coordinator, an independent operator of Chile's Electric System.

Enel (ENEI.MI) New Tab, opens new tab, Chile's electricity distributor, confirmed the power outage and noted that the damaged tower is owned by another firm. Enel is currently collaborating with other transmission companies to restore power.

The tree fell on a transmission tower in Santiago's southeastern region, causing a failure in the 110 kV Florida - Ochagavia line. This incident impacted power consumption at the Macul, Santa Elena, San Joaquin, and Club Hípico substations.

Social media videos revealed a large part of the city plunging into darkness shortly after midnight, affecting multiple city areas. SENAPRED assured that efforts are underway to restore power and stated that, at the moment, no emergency situations has derived from the outage.

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https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/santiago-suffers-power-outage-after-tree-damages-transmission-tower-2024-06-06/