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In related news, power outages in Mexico’s Bacalar area are highlighting a potential concern for Belize, which relies heavily on imported electricity from Mexico’s Comisión Federal de Electricidad, or CFE. Earlier today, residents from several Bacalar communities blocked the main road for nearly five hours after reporting repeated power failures in recent days. The road has since been reopened, but residents reportedly warned that they could stage another protest if a lasting solution is not found. While there has been no indication that the Bacalar outages have affected Belize’s electricity supply, the situation does bring to the forefront, Belize’s dependence on CFE for a significant share of its power needs. At the same time, Belize Electricity Limited is preparing for the possibility that an El Niño weather pattern could bring prolonged dry conditions and reduce the country’s hydroelectric generation. BEL Chief Executive Chair Lynn Young says the company may have to spend as much as four million dollars per month to secure enough alternative power if drought conditions affect hydro production.
Lynn Young, Executive Chairman, Belize Electricity Limited: “All indications that it tends to bring drought with it. So how serious it will be, we are not sure but what Hydro Belize and BEL has been working together to try to conserve as much water. So at this point in time, we have the amount of water that we normally need for this point of the year. But if the rains don’t happen the way they normally happen in the latter half of the year, then we could face some issues. We also are concerned about issues from CFE. So what BEL did is we applied to the PUC to put in emergency generation. So as we speak, we’ve already prepared a spot at Westlake, that’s mile eight, and we have 20, it’s 24 megawatts of emergency generation coming in. It’s a mobile unit that will be set up there to cover us in the event that CFE has issues or that if we have a drought so that we avoid having ruling black votes. It’s one of these things in the industry that you think hard about because it’s going to cost us extra money and already we are bleeding right. It’s going to cost us about $4 million a month to have that extra generation in place. But two things, one is that when CFE prices go high we can turn it on and avoid that cost from CFE and B, if CFE says it can’t generate then we don’t have to have blackouts. We have it. So it’s one of those things that you’re paying for. It’s kind of like insurance. You’re paying for it, but you hope you don’t need it. But you realize that there’s a very high chance that you might need it because there’s CFE and there’s drought that could come and there is also climate change where the months are getting hotter and we have these months where people’s bills go through the roof. But you have to supply the power.”
Young says the uncertainty surrounding El Niño remains one of BEL’s major challenges. While forecasts point to the possibility of drier conditions, there is no firm indication of when those conditions may affect Belize or how severe they could become.
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