On the eve of the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, heavy winds of about 60km/h have pulled down two power transmission towers in Furnasat 4:35 am on Friday 3rdJune, 2014, in the city of São Miguel do Iguaçu, 40 km from Foz do Iguaçu. Such incident caused the disconnection of two circuits, reducing the power transmitted from ITAIPU. Fortunately, the incidenthas not caused interruptions ofpower supply.
On 10thNovember, 2009,the fall of three lines that transmitpower producedin ITAIPU caused a blackout which affected 18 Brazilian States and left nearly 90 million people without power supply. Blackouts like those can lead to serious consequences to the Brazilian population, causing the cease of services related to water supply, transport, communication, safety and health. Apart from loss of industrial production, long term blackouts can bring up violence, chaos and even social disorder.
The INESC P&D Brazil devisesresearch, development and innovation in electrical power systems, aiming atimproving the supply services, and following a paradigm related to sustainability and social responsibility. As an example, in a multidisciplinary institutional project,solutions to structural monitoring of transmission towers are developed to allow the anticipation of the problems and to support the establishment of preventive actions, thereby avoiding possible blackouts. The INESC P&D Brazil has interest and technical qualification to innovate in areas like planning, analysis, design, monitoring, operation, control and protection of electrical power systems.