3 weeks ago
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Belizeans have faced repeated power interruptions in recent days as pressure continues to mount on the country’s electricity supply. Belize Electricity Limited says Mexico’s Comisión Federal de Electricidad, or CFE, advised that it may have to reduce the power supplied to Belize because of high demand in Mexico. As a result, BEL warned that temporary load shedding could become necessary to keep the national grid stable. A tentative load-shedding schedule was issued today for portions of San Pedro, Belize City and the Corozal District. BEL explained that the areas and times could change depending on electricity demand and the amount of power available. The company also carried out a separate planned outage in parts of the Stann Creek District to install a utility pole, relocate high-voltage lines and clear hazardous vegetation. That interruption was maintenance-related and was not part of the load-shedding schedule. Belize relies on a combination of locally generated electricity and power imported from Mexico. When the available supply cannot meet national demand, BEL temporarily cuts electricity to selected areas to prevent the wider system from becoming unstable. The situation has again highlighted the need for Belize to produce more of its own electricity. BEL, the Government and the International Finance Corporation are working on a project that could add up to 80 megawatts of utility-scale solar power to the national grid. The project is intended to strengthen the country’s energy supply and reduce its dependence on imported electricity. Minister of Health and Wellness Kevin Bernard is among those supporting a greater shift toward solar energy.
Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health and Wellness: “You know this energy crisis, I don’t like to go back to the past because people will say, “Oh you’re blaming the UDP.” But you have to lay blame where it is. If there was serious attention made to address the energy issue way back then we wouldn’t have had all of these problems. But this government has been making significant attempts and strides to ensuring that we address these problems. The solar project that will be coming on board pretty soon. As I know, again, I can’t go into it because I don’t know all of the details in terms of the energy project but I know there are great steps being taken and we are almost there where we will see that also coming into play. But it’s unfortunate of course that where we depend on most of our energy from CFE Belize needs to start to look at self sufficiency and I think that that is why the solar project is very important that we are putting our best foot forward to make sure that that can come. But again I think that Mr. Ambassador Young who is now the executive chairman of BEL has taken BEL now and sort of pushing forward. I think that with him at the helm there’s gonna be a lot of major changes, improvements and to me I always say let’s give people the opportunity and time for them to showcase what benefits can come. Government of course and I as a representative of course I have to empathize with our people at the same time for these blackouts that we have been seeing recently. And while there is a lot of that perception out there al I can tell you I think when CFE, when Mexico has issues who do you think they will cut off? They will cut off the other people, they won’t cut themselves off first. And so that’s what we face. We now need to ensure that we can provide and produce more energy in this country and that’s why I support this solar project.”
While solar development will not provide an immediate solution to the current interruptions, the additional generating capacity is expected to form an important part of Belize’s longer-term plan to meet rising electricity demand and improve energy security.//
English (US) ·