What role does ISA, the Colombian company blamed for the Chilean blackout, play?

The power outage on Tuesday that left 98 percent of Chile without electricity points directly to a failure in the operations of a Colombian company in that country . The situation was so serious that the president himself, Gabriel Boric, announced that the government will act firmly to determine the causes.

This is Interchile, the subsidiary company of the Colombian ISA, today part of the Ecopetrol group , which is key in the Chilean electrical system because it is in charge of the Cardones – Polpaico Transmission Line, Encuentro Lagunas and Kimal – Lo Aguirre Connection.

Following the incident and after Boric blamed them for what happened, the Colombian group assured through a statement that the blackout was caused by an unidentified unforeseen event in its transmission lines between Vallenar and Coquimbo, which in turn caused “the unwanted activation” of its protection schemes and the automatic disconnection.

“On Tuesday at 3:16 pm, an event occurred that affected the double-circuit electric transmission line, Nueva Maitencillo - Nueva Pan de Azúcar, which operates at 5,000,000 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,” the company said.

The company's general manager, Luis Llano, explained 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.

However, in this case they operated without the existence of a real fault on the line and caused the largest blackout in 15 years in the country , since the great earthquake of February 2010 left all of Chile in the dark.

“From the first moment, all coordination capacities and teams on the ground were mobilized to restore the line's availability as soon as possible, which was achieved at 4:00 pm, 44 minutes after the event began. We will collaborate with the investigation that corresponds to the unavailability of the electric service that affected the country and its recovery plan,” he said.

It should be noted that authorities report that more than 94 percent of the eight million affected households already have electricity supply.

ISA is a multinational company with presence in six countries in the region, operating in the electric power, roads and telecommunications businesses.

Specifically, in Chile, it has been involved in electric energy and infrastructure for years . In addition, it recently sold 100 percent of the shares of Internexia in that country, which is a wholesale operator of fiber optic connectivity services and infrastructure.

On the electric energy side, there is the subsidiary ISA Interchile, which was created in 2012 after the ISA Group was awarded the tender by the Chilean Government to maintain a 753-kilometer-long energy transmission network and its associated works in the north and center of the country, known as the “Chile Expansion Plan for the 2×500 kV Cardones-Polpaico Transmission Line.”

Later, the project was joined by the construction and operation of another transmission line in the regions of Tarapacá and Antofagasta, known as “LT 2×200 kv Encuentro-Lagunas”, which includes a 192-kilometer line and which has been in operation since June 2017.

According to the company itself, both projects have a total investment of 1.282 billion dollars and generate more than 4,000 direct and indirect jobs in their respective construction phases.

On the infrastructure side, ISA is also the largest developer of interurban highway concessions in Chile, with 689 kilometers in operation. Its subsidiary ISA Vías is responsible for maintaining routes such as Maipo and De los Ríos.

The last highway to begin operations was Ruta del Loa last year. This is a 111-kilometer, high-tech, double-track highway built by ISA Intervial, a subsidiary of the Colombian multinational ISA, which links the towns of Carmen Alto, Sierra Gorda and Calama in the north of the country.

At the regional level, the group also has a presence in Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Panama and Central America.