The investigations began in the midst of complaints about failures in the electrical network, due to the lack of protection schemes and the lack of timely delivery of final reports by the Electrical Transmission Company, S.A. (Etesa).

The Public Services Authority (PSA) and the Meritorious Fire Brigade are investigating the failure in the Pan-Am thermoelectric plant, located in La Chorrera, which caused a national blackout at 23:40 local time last Saturday; a system that was reestablished until 06:08 local time this Sunday.

The country was without electricity supply for approximately six hours and 28 minutes, PSA indicated.

For Electrical Engineer Ariel Muñoz, secretary general of the Union of Workers of the Electrical and Similar Industries of Panama (Sitiespa), this failure was not cleared neither in the time nor in the way it should have been, that is to say, the problem radiated beyond the area where it occurred, leaving the whole country in the dark.

Muñoz told the newspaper La Estrella de Panama that Etesa will have to adapt and establish the different protection schemes, whether low frequency, low voltage, timing, as well as the necessary coordination.

We are still waiting for the final report of the blackout that occurred on December 24, 2023, two years ago’, he remarked.

Referring to what happened this weekend, the union leader affirmed that the consequences of the politicking and the lack of capable personnel that are appointed with the governments’ entries, are already beginning to take their toll on the company.

In that sense, he denounced that in the entity they use financial and economic resources to make political proselytism through the Instagram page, like campaigns in favor of the reform of the Social Security Fund, when that is not their function, but to attend to what happens in the transmission sector.

According to what the general administrator of the National Authority of Public Services (Asep), Zelmar Rodríguez, told the press after visiting the Pan-Am thermoelectric plant, in the district of La Chorrera, no fatalities or injuries were reported.

During the visit, they verified that the blackout was caused by the explosion of a 50 MegaVolt-Amperes (MVA) transformer, which also affected an operations room where there was a loss of office material.

Meanwhile, the director of the Panama Fire Department, Victor Alvarez, indicated that the corresponding investigations have been initiated to determine the possible causes of the incident.

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