IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2022 - 42

The wildfires affected 24 transmission lines with more
than 50 failures. Table 1 shows the main events. The city of
Concepción was one of the most affected areas. It was surrounded
by 353 fires that triggered simultaneous failures in
several transmission lines. Among the most affected lines,
we found Charrúa-Ancoa 500 kV (around 20 h out of service
because of three outages), Charrúa-Concepción 154 kV
(3.3 h out of service because of four outages), Charrúa-Concepción
220 kV (12 h out of service because of eight outages),
Charrúa-Hualpén 220 kV (8.2 out of service because
of eight outages), and Concepción-Mahns 66 kV (209 h
out of service because of one outage). The consequences
on system operation and the responses by the authorities
are presented next.
Reduced Power Transfers
Table 1 shows the impact of wildfires on major network
infrastructure, i.e., 220-500 kV. To efficiently deal with
these impacts, the Chilean Independent System Operator
had to redispatch the system postcontingency, increasing
the generation from more costly units in importing areas to
avoid demand curtailments. Because of the increased risks,
preventive measures were also undertaken by the Chilean
Independent System Operator. An interesting example corresponds
to the incident in the Charrúa-Ancoa 500-kV
corridor. After this corridor was affected by a wildfire
in one of their circuits (the corridor is composed of two
single circuits on separate routes), one circuit had to be disconnected
and the other operated at a reduced rate as a
table 1. Transmission lines affected per day, time, and region during January 2017. Local-generation-provided
frequency control services are also pointed out.
Day O'Higgins
19
20
21
22
23
24
16:10 Line Candelaria-Maipo
220 kV
16:50 Line Santa Rosa-Alhué
66 kV
25
18:12 Line Ancoa-Alto Jahuel
4,500 kV
26
Maule
19:30 Line San Javier-Constitución 66 kV
Bío-Bío
20:35 Line Cauquenes-La Vega 66 kV
14:28 Line Itahue-Talca 66 kV
15:30 Line Charrúa-Itahue 154 kV
10:20 Line San Javier-Constitución 66 kV
15:12 Line Hualañé-Ranguilí 66 kV
17:37 Line San Javier-Constitución 66 kV
19:51 Celco and Viñales plants at
Constitución
20:05 Substation Nirivilo 66 kV
00:00 Celco plant with frequency
control at Constitución
13:50 Line Hualañé-Ranguilí 66 kV
17:39 Line Charrúa-Ancoa 2,500 kV
00:00 Celco plant with frequency
control at Constitución
14:09 Line Charrúa-Ancoa 2,500 kV
18:31 Line Parral-Cauquenes 66 kV
27
28
29
30
31
16:28 Line Ancoa-Alto Jahuel
4,500 kV
00:00 Celco plant with frequency
control at Constitución
17:45 Line Ancoa-Itahue 220 kV
00:00 Celco plant with frequency
control at Constitución
14:54 Line San Javier-Constitución 66 kV
00:00 Celco plant with frequency
control at Constitución
00:00 Celco plant with frequency
control at Constitución
00:00 Celco plant with frequency
control at Constitución
21:53 Line San Javier-Constitución
66 kV back to service
42
ieee power & energy magazine
january/february 2022
19:51 Lines Charrúa-Concepción 220 kV
and 154 kV
14:25 Lines Charrúa-Concepción 220 kV
and 154 kV
09:30 Line Coronel-Horcones 66 kV
15:50 Line Charrúa-Concepción 220 kV
17:27 Line Charrúa-Hualpén 220 kV
17:41 Line Alonso de Ribera-Penco 66 kV
00:47 Line Concepción-Penco 66 kV
09:49 Line Charrúa-Concepción 220 kV
15:06 Line Charrúa-Hualpén 220 kV
15:11 Line Charrúa-Concepción 220 kV
15:11 Line Charrúa-Lagunillas 220 kV
16:17 Line Santa María-Charrúa 220 kV
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2022

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