Belize, Electricity Limited!

Tonight, there are portions of the country that are presently without electricity.  In fact, this has been the case since ten a.m. when electricity was cut off in certain areas of Orange Walk District.  The scheduled power interruptions will continue until eleven p.m.  That’s because Belize is facing an energy crisis and B.E.L., its sole electricity provider, is scrambling to meet demand levels that have soared as high as one hundred and twenty-five megawatts.  As it stands, the maximum in-country generation capacity is ninety-five megawatts and its supply from CFE in Mexico remains uncertain.  The effect of the hours-long power interruption was most felt in San Pedro on Wednesday, and we will have full coverage of that untimely experience elsewhere in our newscast.  Earlier today, the Chief Executive Officer of Belize Electricity Limited and other senior managers of the utility company held a press conference to inform the nation of the latest challenges that B.E.L. is faced with.  C.E.O. John Mencias began by discussing the country’s present consumption.

 

John Mencias, C.E.O., Belize Electricity Ltd.

“The local peak, well the peak for Belize goes up usually about a hundred and fifteen megawatts, but it can go as high as it did earlier this year to a hundred and twenty-seven megawatts.  There are times during the day, especially during the night when it falls to a hundred and fifteen megawatts which means that in-country supply is able to meet that peak.  However, we had to take our Mile 8 gas turbine out of service because we are upgrading it and so we lost nineteen megawatts and that puts the local in-country generation capacity below a hundred megawatts which means, therefore, that once we’re in that situation to be able to meet demand most of the time, we have to rely on the fifty-five megawatts that we get from CFE.  Whenever we can’t get power from CFE and we’re in that situation, then we have to resort to load shedding.  So we were in a situation like that on Monday whereby CFE said we have to meet demand over here in Mexico and we are unable to supply you with the fifty-five megawatts that you need.  In fact, you need to go down to zero at this time, and when they do that, we are unable to match demand with supply.”