Venezuela's state-owned utility Corpoelec is patching up the country's dilapidated power grid by cannibalizing transformers and other equipment after a string of catastrophic blackouts that hit the country in March and early April, reports Argus.

In one example, Corpoelec transferred a large-capacity transformer from the San Geronimo substation in Guarico state to the Guri substation at the 10 GW Simon Bolivar hydroelectric complex in Bolivar state. The 765 kV transformer now at Guri will enable Corpoelec to boost hydropower transmission from Bolivar state to the rest of the country by up to 400 MW, according to the electricity ministry.

However, this decision means that the critical San Geronimo substation now has no back-up capacity.

"Transformer breakdowns at the San Geronimo and La Horqueta 765 kV substations have been the chief cause of numerous multi-state blackouts since 2016," a senior Fetraelec official said. "Moving San Geronimo's back-up transformer to Guri has made the grid more vulnerable."

Additionally, since May 2018 Corpoelec has quietly dismantled three substations on Venezuela's western border with Colombia, wiping out its capacity to import up to 336 MW of electricity from or export 205 MW to Colombia. The transformers were reinstalled at substations in Zulia during the past year, but up to six national blackouts since March 2019 have caused all of the transformers to fail, reports Argus.

"Corpoelec's aim in relocating these transformers was to strengthen the grid, particularly in Zulia and the Andean states of Tachira, Merida and Trujillo, but the grid's structural problems are so widespread that these temporary fixes amount to putting a bandage on an arterial hemorrhage," the Corpoelec official said.

Source: Argus