Eletrobras investigates power tower falls amid coup acts, says agency

Eletrobras is investigating the reasons for the collapse of two power transmission towers at its concessionaires Furnas and Eletronorte since Sunday (10), when coup acts broke out across the country and threats against Petrobras refineries, two sources told Reuters.

“There were acts of vandalism on lines [de transmissão]… but you can’t tell if it’s an attack or something related [com atos golpistas],” said one of the sources.

The incidents to Eletrobras’ infrastructure involved lines in Paraná and Rondônia. In the case of Paraná, a Bipolo 2 tower was demolished, which transmits energy generated by the Itaipu hydroelectric plant to the National Interconnected System.

Power service was not compromised, one of the sources said.

“The security of the system is guaranteed… There is no risk of anything, absolutely nothing. The Furnas circuit that fell, another bipole took over.”

Another source said that teams are being sent to the site in Paraná to check what happened and whether a tractor was used to demolish the tower.

At Eletronorte, a transmission line from the Acre-Rondônia interconnection to the National Interconnected System was disconnected.

“Immediately, the maintenance team was called in and the inspection carried out detected that the shutdown was caused by the fall of a tower on that line, with signs of sabotage. The Eletronorte team is already mobilized to replace the tower, with a forecast for the conclusion of the services along the next 11th, Wednesday”, says the company’s note released the day before.

After the occurrences at Eletrobras, the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) and the regulatory agency Aneel set up a crisis office to monitor possible threats to the safety of the electricity sector’s facilities, said a third source.