Initial report rules out that lightning caused a fire that caused a blackout in Amapá | Amapá

The investigation carried out by the Consumer Crimes Precinct (Deccon) also requested a blockade of R $ 500 million to the accounts of the concessionaire that operates the substation that caught fire to repair damages to consumers. The state court partially granted the request and blocked R $ 50 million.

To collect the information, the Civil Police issued search and seizure orders at the substation that caught fire on November 3, in Macapá, which has left 90% of Amapá in an energy blackout since then. They were eighty, but no one was arrested.

“In advance, the expert issued a preliminary finding indicating that the problem occurred in one of the transformer bushings. And that it generated the fire and that the fire was contained by the Fire Department. The company did not have a garrison that could, at that time, do the Containment of the fire. The transformer that caught fire generated an overload for the second, this second was damaged and the third stopped working “, explained the delegate Janeci Monteiro.

The hypothesis that the transformer was hit by an electric discharge was due to the fact that at the time of the fire, the place, and all of Macapá, was being hit by heavy rains, with a high incidence of lightning and thunder. The preliminary report found that the transformer arrester systems were intact.

“Due to the complexity of this type of expertise, the expert may request an extension of the investigation and that this period [10 dias] be stable. We are facing something very complex, only certain people with specific knowledge for that can work. The expert must have this knowledge, ”explained delegate Uberlândio Gomes, general delegate of the Civil Police.

The investigation continues and seeks to determine if lightning could have caused a problem and subsequently caused the fire in the transformer.

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To find out the circumstances of the energy crisis, the police seized documents, made subpoenas and even expert reports at the station’s facilities, “to avoid loss of evidence.”

The blockade of R $ 50 million in the accounts of the Linhas de Macapá Transmissora de Energia (LMTE) concessionaire was determined by Judge Mayra Brandão, of the 3rd Criminal Court of the capital.

Also on Wednesday, the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) approved an audit, presented by Minister Ana Arraes. He affirmed that the investigation is justified “in the face of innumerable losses and damages to the population, in addition to the possible irregularities and omissions” that caused the blackout.

The work is part of the “Blackout” operation, which also monitors, in conjunction with the Consumer Protection Institute (Procon), irregularities in the setting of prices of food, candles and mineral water, as well as in terms of exposure to the sale of products not suitable for human consumption. The search and seizure was carried out on Tuesday (10), but was only released on Wednesday.

In addition to the Civil Police, the blackout is also investigated by the National Electricity System Operator (ONS) / Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), as well as by the Federal Police and the National Electricity Agency (Aneel).

The state’s main substation, which gives Amapá access to the National Interconnected System (SIN), caught fire on November 3, causing a power cut for 90% of the state’s population, the equivalent of some 765,000 people.

With the lack of electricity, there were problems in the supply of drinking water and telecommunications, in addition to queues at gas stations and losses in commerce. There have already been around 70 protests against the blackout and even against the blackout.

MME explained that the substation should work with two transformers and have a third backup. With the fire, one piece of equipment was completely destroyed, another was overloaded and damaged, and the third had been under maintenance since December 2019.

On Saturday (7), the federal government, together with a series of agencies, managed to activate the third transformer, which allowed the power supply to be gradually resumed.

Until the two new transformers in the substation are activated – the forecast was that this would happen in 30 days – the consuming units receive power from various sources: SIN, Coaracy Nunes Plant, and also from power generators transported from Manaus to the state. .

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