B.E.L. Explains the Vulnerable State of Electricity Services
Jose Moreno
Over the past week, there have been several power outages and as recent as Monday night, there was a low power surge in parts of the city, before electricity was lost for residents. Today, however, Belize Electricity Limited hosted a virtual press conference to discuss matters concerning the utility company’s contingency plans to provide unimpeded services to the country. The concerns stem from the Blair Athol Power Company Limited declaring that their power plant will be extendedly unavailable to provide to the national grid. Now, BAPCOL and B.E.L.’s Gas Turbine plant serve as the main backup if the supply of electricity from C.F.E. Mexico is lost. The issue is compounded by the need for critical repairs on the transmission line that connects C.F.E. to B.E.L.’s central substation at mile eight on the George Price Highway. Today, B.E.L.’s General Manager for Energy Supply and Transmission Division Jose Moreno speaks about the vulnerable state of electricity services to the country.
Jose Moreno, General Manager, Energy Supply & Transmission Division, B.E.L.
“Our system is in a present state of vulnerability that we haven’t seen before and to assure the customers that if there is any brief interruption of power that B.E.L. has put in place contingency measures to make sure that we restore it as soon as possible. There’s conditions that are really putting a little bit of concern on our part which is the vulnerability of the transmission line that connects us to Mexico and the shortfall in generation, in-country generation that we have to deal with the growing need of electricity in the country. In the north, we have a situation where we had already started doing maintenance work on that line. Because we interrupted that flow of supply we were depending almost ninety percent on our in-country resources, and then we had this situation with one of our biggest plants in the south and because of that we had to pull back those works. With the recent storms and the change in weather that is happening right now, we are a little bit concerned that the vulnerability of that line can cause the system to collapse, as we have seen a couple times already. I know that normally our customers are not used to having so frequent interruptions and we don’t want them to think that the sky is falling. So, our main message is just be prepared. B.E.L. has taken steps to mitigate those conditions and if they can assist us in managing the peak demand, especially during the afternoon hours, that will go a long way.”
B.E.L. is asking customers to assist by practicing energy conservation, where possible, to alleviate excess demand for electricity.
