According to Alexandre Silveira, the episode was not caused by a lack of energy, but by a “structure problem”
The Minister of Mines and Energy, said that the blackout that hit at least 13 States and the Federal District this early Tuesday (14.Oct.2025) was a “one-off episode” and it was not due to a lack of energy.
“It was a one-off episode, which the ONS [Operador Nacional do Sistema Elétrico] gave a prompt response thanks to the modern system of our national operator […] It’s not a lack of energy, it’s a problem in the infrastructure that transmits the energy”he stated in an interview with the program “Good morning, Minister”.
Silveira stated that Brazil has sufficient energy and that the event did not compromise large-scale supply. “Today we have a lot of energy”he declared.
The ONS said the likely cause of the interruption would be a fire at the Bateias substation, located in Paraná.
In addition to the Federal District, failures were recorded in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco, Bahia, Amazonas, Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina, Goiás, Rio Grande do Norte, Maranhão, Paraíba, Sergipe and Rondônia.
The cause of the fire is investigated and the operator will prepare a Disturbance Analysis Report by Friday (Oct 17), with the technical details of the blackout and preventive measures to avoid new occurrences.
According to the ONS, the fire affected the country’s 4 subsystems – South, Southeast/Central-West, Northeast and North, according to the ONS.
The fire started at around 0:32 am, leading to the complete shutdown of the 500 kV (kilovolts) substation and the interruption of interconnection between the South and the Southeast/Central-West. At the time of the failure, the South region was exporting around 5,000 MW (megawatt) to the Southeast and Central-West, which increased the impacts on energy supply.
According to the ONS, load losses were distributed as follows:
- 600 MW in the South;
- 800 MW in the Southeast;
- 900 MW in the Northeast; and
- 600 MW in the North.
