| has gloss | eng: The 1999 Southern Brazil blackout was a very large power outage (at the time the largest ever) that occurred in Brazil on March 11, 1999. The blackout involved São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and Rio Grande do Sul, affecting an estimated 75 to 97 million people. A chain reaction was started when a lightning strike occurred at an electricity substation in Bauru, São Paulo State causing most of the 440kV circuits at the substation to trip. Brazil was undergoing a severe investment crisis during 1999, which limited spending on maintenance and expansion of the power grid. With few routes for the power to flow from the generating stations via the 440kV system (a very important system to São Paulo state, carrying electricity generated by the Paraná river) a lot of generators automatically shut down because they did not have any load. |
