Temporary Power Outages Strike Large Swaths Of Chile

27th Jul 2010 17:52

SANTIAGO (Dow Jones)--Chile's central SIC grid, which provides power to over 90% of the country's population, suffered widespread temporary power outages early Tuesday. Following a devastating earthquake in late February, which assailed central-southern Chile, the SIC grid has suffered power outages, including two massive blackouts: one in the immediate aftermath of the quake and the other several days later. "The majority of power supply has already been restored," the National Emergency Office, or Onemi, told Dow Jones Newswires. The cause of Tuesday's power outage was not immediately known, Onemi added. State copper miner Corporacion Nacional del Cobre, or Codelco, reported short outages at some of its operations as a result of the system-wide blackout. The Ventanas refinery is operating normally, while its Salvador division suffered a 10-minute outage. The El Teniente division, located less than 100 kilometers (62 miles) southwest of Santiago, saw some of its processes shut down on the voltage variations seen on the SIC grid, a company official said. Other copper mines located on the SIC grid, such as Antofagasta Plc's (ANTO.LN) Los Pelambres mines, were operating normally, local media reported. -By Anthony Esposito, Dow Jones Newswires; 56-2-715-8929; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 27, 2010 12:52 ET (16:52 GMT)