An extensive power outage impacted numerous neighborhoods in the City of Buenos Aires and localities in the Greater Buenos Aires area since early Wednesday morning, causing significant disruptions in transportation, the start of the school year, and the functioning of basic services. This resulted in supply cuts affecting about 550,000 users of Edesur and part of the Edelap network, the energy distributor in La Plata. However, by 7 AM, the subway service had been fully restored.
Meanwhile, the Roca Railway experienced delays on the La Plata and Bosques lines via Quilmes. The blackout also complicated traffic in the City of Buenos Aires due to non-functioning traffic lights on major avenues such as Brasil, San Juan, Independencia, and Belgrano. Although the supply began to normalize by 9 AM, thousands of users remained without power, and traffic lights in several areas were still out of service.
The power cut complicated the start of the school year in several schools in the City and the province of Buenos Aires. Meanwhile, in the neighborhood of San Juan and Entre Ríos, the lack of power affected the operation of the Community Police Station 1-C and security in the area. In the Greater Buenos Aires area, the most affected localities included Lanús, Lomas de Zamora, Wilde, Quilmes, La Plata, San Fernando, and Avellaneda.
According to official information provided by the distributor Edesur, the incident originated at 5:50 AM due to a failure in two 220 kV high-voltage lines, resulting in an estimated loss of generation of 2,200 MW and affecting the power plants of Costanera, Dock Sud, and Ensenada de Barragán. Line B of the Buenos Aires subway was out of service for several minutes, while Line A operated with restrictions between the San Pedrito and Río de Janeiro stations.
In a school in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of San Cristóbal, for example, it was reported that they had water and could hold classes, although parents could choose not to send their children. Public transport was also affected during the early hours of the day. According to official sources, no attempts at escape or serious incidents were reported during the blackout. The incident, which left thousands of users without electric service on a day of high temperatures, again highlighted the fragility of the energy infrastructure in the region, generating criticism and complaints from affected citizens. Some institutions decided to suspend classes due to the lack of power, while others left the decision in the hands of the parents.
