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UPDATE: Power Returns To Brazil After Huge Blackout

By Jeff Fick and Ken Rapoza, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

RIO DE JANEIRO -(Dow Jones)- Power has returned to Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and other parts of Brazil following a massive blackout that hit at least five major states and affected an estimated 50 million people.

Brazil's electric power agency Aneel said in a statement early Wednesday morning that power is being restored throughout the affected regions.

Power should be back on line "within minutes," Eduardo Barata, operational director of the ONS national energy grid, told the local Globo news agency at 1: 25 a.m. local time Wednesday. The blackout hit around 10:15 p.m. local time, leaving people in the dark in Brazil's two most populous cities and states.

Energy Minister Edison Lobao had told reporters in Brasilia the Itaipu hydroelectric plant, whose output is shared with neighboring Paraguay, had been disconnected from the power grid. He blamed "atmospheric problems," perhaps a severe thunderstorm, for the blackout.

Itaipu in a statement said the cause of the blackout did not originate at the power plant itself. "The most-probable hypothesis is that there was an accident that affected one or more points in the transmission system." It noted Furnas, a utility responsible for transmitting energy from Itaipu to Brazil's south and southeast, was affected.

The breakdown in transmission resulted in a domino effect that hit other parts of the grid.

"Immediately after the blackout, Itaipu's turbines were generating power but the transmission lines connecting the power plant to the Brazilian system were disconnected," Itaipu said. It added the dam was supplying power to Paraguay's electric system within 15 minutes after the blackout, reinforcing the evidence that the cause was outside the power plant.

Itaipu, the world's second-largest hydroelectric dam after China's Three Gorges, generates 14,000 megawatts, supplying nearly a fifth of Brazil's power and 87% of Paraguay's electricity.

Itaipu is operated by Brazilian utility Eletrobras (EBR), which is also the parent company of Furnas.

-By Jeff Fick, Dow Jones Newswires; 5521 7564 4503; jeff.fick@dowjones.com

(Charles Roth contributed to this article)

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