Understanding the Inner Operations of B.E.L.: The National Grid
In tonight’s episode of our biweekly series, Bringing Energy to Life, we look at the national grid and how it is managed and operated by Belize Electricity Limited. We visited the National Energy Supply Control Center, the nucleus of energy transmission and distribution, to get a firsthand look at how the national grid is being monitored by a dedicated team of energy supply operators. Here’s News Five’s Isani Cayetano with the following story.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
The convenience of entering a room, flicking a light switch and the space is instantly illuminated is a personal comfort that many of us take for granted. Simply knowing that at the touch of a button the air conditioner is turned on, or the television comes to life, is also something that we don’t give much thought to, it’s just there. But have you ever wondered how electricity is delivered to your home, office or place of business, and who are the persons behind the scenes working diligently to ensure that power supply is always there when you need it?
Stephanie Perez
Stephanie Perez, Energy Supply Operator, B.E.L.
“It has always been a dream of mine to join the Belize Electricity Ltd. Ever since in high school, I took electrical science and it has been a dream to be here. I worked hard enough and I’m here, which I enjoy very much as well.”
Stephanie Perez is the only woman at the National Energy Supply Control Center, where a team of eleven is responsible for monitoring the country’s electrical grid around the clock.
Edwardo ‘Dito’ Castillo
Edwardo ‘Dito’ Castillo, Supt., National Energy Supply Control Center
“The grid is an integrated system. It’s designed to create electricity from the point of generation to the customers which use the power.”
This network of corresponding power providers and consumers connected by transmission and distribution lines that are operated from a central location. From here, energy supply control operators, like Stephanie, take turns keeping an eye on what is happening across the grid.
Stephanie Perez
“I work on the distribution side of the control center. What we do here, we monitor the voltage from when it leaves the substations towards our customers homes. We also have protection devices on our lines that give us data, send us data up here which tell us when something is wrong and then, hereby, we have our 24/7 crew or power line technicians who await our call if we call them out if there is any issue on the lines.”
B.E.L.’s power line technicians are busy at work on La Croix Boulevard. They, along with other technicians in the field, take their lead from Edwardo Castillo. With forty-two years under his belt, Dito has a wealth of knowledge about the operations, as well as the people who work here.
Edwardo ‘Dito’ Castillo
“You have to have a good staff and you have to be on top of it to know exactly what is happening every minute, twenty-four hours a day. If you have a problem, your supervisor will call you and inform you from time to time because the senior management would need to be informed about any changes on the system or any emergency.”
It’s a strict chain of command that requires communication at all levels of the company.
Edwardo Castillo
“Everything has to come to the control center, everything. The control center is the brain of the grid, so all information will come to the control center and from the control center, I will be informed of any abnormality of the system and I will then relay that to our senior management. If we have a problem with a substation, we call directly to the guys that are on call. So everybody has to be on the same page to try to get back the power as quick as possible to the customers.”
Inside the control center, the national grid is overseen from a wall of television monitors that are mirrored elsewhere in the building. Energy supply operators are able to view a graphic display of the entire system and are able to determine where along the network a problem exists.
Stephanie Perez
“We dispatch our crews to the location that’s having an issue. What we try to do up here is, we monitor, we try to make sure that the voltages are okay so that no customer devices get damaged and we try to do this before the issue starts. So it’s a 24/7 job going on up here. At first it was a little bit difficult, but then the body adjusts itself to the sleep arrangement. We work shifts and when I leave, another operator comes in and that’s how we arrange. We get enough rest, so that’s one of the most important things. By the time you leave here you need to have enough rest so that when you come back you’re just okay to work again.”
It’s a key position in the operations of B.E.L., one that requires the team to constantly identify new ways of getting better at what it does. Dito has never shied away from an opportunity to learn or impart his knowledge.
Edwardo Castillo
“My background is electrical and BEL did send me to do some studies and things like that and from time to time you get some courses to keep you up to date with the technologies that are coming now. We have some employees that want to learn and it makes it easier for you to bring across some of the things that the company wants to do. One of our main things is to keep on the power, so the employees at the control center, that’s our task to do.”
Isani Cayetano for News Five.
