The opinions and reports on possible causes of the general blackout who suffered the Dominican Republic Last Tuesday they continued to generate debates, even causing this Friday the Minister of Energy and Mines, Joel Santos, to publicly disavow a vice minister of that institution for some statements issued.
Of the technical documents published, that of Energy Institute from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), although he describes the restoration of the system as technically impeccable. electrical servicethe app suggests a series of actions, including staff trainingto avoid general collapses.
The entity points out that the event should be seen as a warningnot as a structural failure, highlighting that the National Interconnected Electrical System (SENI) lasted just over 10 years without a general blackoutwhich reflects his strength.
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“But this event demonstrates something important: when an electrical system enters a technological transition phase, protection schemes, personnel training and support infrastructure must evolve at the same pace. If they do not, events that were previously manageable can become general collapses,” he points out.
The organism of the UASD states in the document the “operational need immediate” of the battery storage (BESS) for the generation of solar energywhich allows: synthetic inertia, primary regulation ultra fast, tension support and vibration damping.
“This is no longer a luxury or an academic recommendation. With the solar penetration current, the SENI has already reached the limit at which the dynamic stability depends more on the behavior of electronic converters than on synchronous machines“he specifies.
However, he assures that the recovery “was exemplary” and that the SENI demonstrated strength and the operational trajectory shows a robust system, but one that requires technological update urgent, especially in energy storage, protection selectivity and operational training.
In its conclusions, it states that the blackout of November 11, 2025 was the result of a human error punctual, lack of differential protection effective, low system inertia, possible overprotection of thermal units and insufficient response of dynamic controls.
One of the reasons cited by the Energy Institute of the UASD was also presented by the Vice Minister of Innovation and Energy Transition of the Ministry of Energy and MinesBetty Soto, who explained that the official report of the Failure Committee concludes that the event originated from a “human error “operational” during a changeover procedure on a power line, which caused the output of the 138 kilovolt line from the San Pedro de Macorís substation.
Minister denies it
During an interview this Friday on a radio program, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Joel Santosruled out that the report cited by Vice Minister Soto had been produced.
“The (Faults) Committee has not issued any report. It is a report that could have been prepared by an individualwho probably knows the system, but it’s not officialit’s not even preliminary. It doesn’t exist yet,” he stressed.
