B.E.L. commissions 20MW turbine generator
With unexpected shutdowns in Yucatan cutting off current from Mexico, and a dusty dry season wreaking havoc with distribution in Belize, it has not been a particularly good year for Belize Electricity Limited. But B.E.L.’s luck may be changing. Construction has started on Chalillo and today some badly needed generating capacity was inaugurated on the outskirts of Belize City.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
At the push of a button, the country’s latest source of energy was activated. The twenty-megawatt gas turbine unit, named the Westlake Generating Plant, was inaugurated at mile eight on the Western Highway.
Jacqueline Woods
“Now you have been working on this baby since its inception, so how are you feeling today?”
Michael Polonio, Manager, Gas Turbine Project
“Pretty good, pretty, pretty good. I am a happy man.”
Stanley Marshall, Deputy Chairman, B.E.L.
“I am feeling great. I just wish plant were online about six months ago.”
Two years ago Belize Electricity Limited became aware of the need for the gas turbine unit to increase the utility’s ability to provide reliable power to its customers. B.E.L.’s Deputy Chairman, Stanley Marshall, says their task is to supply electricity at the most economic rates possible.
Stanley Marshall
“Well every new project costs money, but with this turbine in place the price of electricity will be lower than otherwise what it would have been. It’s cheaper to operate this turbine on peak hours say than importing power from Mexico.”
Jacqueline Woods
“How much cheaper?”
Stanley Marshall
“It’s about… operating this plant is probably twenty-five cents kilowatt per hour on peak. Mexico is about sixty.”
The gas turbine, which is a modified version of the jet engine used on a commercial airliner, generates hot, pressurized gas from a mixture of diesel fuel and air. The advantage of the gas turbine unit is that it can be fired up and put online in under fifteen minutes, which means that even when there is an emergency blackout due to lack of capacity, it should be remedied quickly. According to the project’s manager, Michael Polonio, because the unit is expensive to operate on a twenty-four basis, B.E.L. will only use the gas turbine during peak hours and in emergencies.
Mike Polonio
“Mexican power goes up to twenty-five to thirty cents U.S. per kilowatt hour. So it’s obviously more beneficial, more economic, to run the turbine around that time. But in addition, Mollejon as it now stands, the run of the river during the dry season goes pretty, pretty low, to the point sometimes it can’t even generate on certain days. During that period cost is not an issue, the issue then is generation, backup. And this is where this plant comes in, so it will be a complement to Mollejon. And even when we lose Mexico, again, people are not concerned at that point in time about the cost, but rather about the outage and the inconvenience. This is going to take care of that problem.”
Polonio says the unit’s structure can not only withstand hurricane force winds, but because it is placed on an eight foot platform, the unit is twelve foot above sea level, protecting it from any damage than can be caused by a storm surge.
At the inauguration ceremony, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Johnny Briceño said that his government is satisfied that the project meets environmental standards.
Johnny Briceño, Min., Natural Resources, Environment
“I am pleased to learn that the post testing reports indicate that the noise levels are even less than the levels outlined in the environmental regulations… The gaseous emissions from the thirty-three-foot-high exhaust tank are hardly noticeable, and again reports indicate that concentrations are well below the required environmental standards.”
The Westlake plant’s twenty megawatts, combined with the expected thirty-five megawatts that will be generated by Chalillo and Mollejon, would be able to supply all of Belize’s present peak energy requirements. Belize’s energy demands, however, are increasing by between eight and ten percent each year, and even with purchases from Mexico, new sources of electricity will be needed in the future.
