Rains help increase hydro plant output

Those rains forecast by the weatherman may be wreaking havoc with people’s outdoor recreation, but they’re good news for B.E.L. and BECOL, operator of the Mollejon Hydro Plant. Although July was a drier month than normal, recent rains in the south of the country have increased the flow in the Macal River. That has resulted in higher output from the hydro plant to the point where on some days it has supplied the entire central Belize grid which stretches from Benque to Belize City and also includes Dangriga. According to BECOL’s Stephen Usher, the power level has ranged from a peak of twenty-three megawatts down to a level of around ten at present. He says that recent rains in the Maya Mountains should raise the water — and power level — back up to full output over the weekend.