I think Boz and the New York Times are largely correct that the recent blackouts in Brazil and other Central and South American countries are related to infrastructure issues. While I tend to believe that diversity of supply will help Brazil, I don't believe that I addressed the overall issue with infrastructure sufficiently.
Both Boz and the article deal with issues of transmission of electricity and that is a particularly problematic issue with Brazil. While supply from different sources will aid infrastructure by furnishing some built-in redundancy when other sources falter (e.g. droughts that could impact hydroelectric supplies), infrastructure issues are ongoing problems in the region. Boz correctly points out the potential for future problems with rising income levels and increased demand only make the need for improving infrastructure more urgent.
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