Paraguay Suffers Massive Blackout Affecting Millions

On Feb. 19, a massive blackout left nearly five million people—about 90% of National Electricity Administration (ANDE) customers—without power in Paraguay amid a heat wave with temperatures up to 116°F. The outage disrupted water services and hospitals; ANDE blamed transmission lines linked to the Itaipú hydroelectric plant while denying generation faults, underscoring transmission and distribution weaknesses that threaten planned data-center and AI investments.