Photo: Jose Moreno, General Manager of Energy Supply and Transmission, BEL

by Kristen Ku

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. June 8, 2023

After a string of unscheduled power outages over the last two weeks, Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) has sought to reassure customers of its commitment to stabilize the situation and restore normal service as quickly as possible.

These sudden blackouts affected Belize City and other parts of the country not long after BEL’s press conference to announce multimillion-dollar investments aimed at reinforcing the resilience and efficiency of the country’s electricity infrastructure.

In a press release on June 1, 2023, the company pledged to put into action a set of measures designed to minimize the impact and frequency of unexpected outages. The company projected that it would take approximately 12 days to restore normalcy.

In addition, BEL assured customers that if there were to be any unscheduled blackouts extending into the next weekend, they would not be of long duration.

The unplanned blackouts were a result of unforeseen complications that arose during the critical repair work on the transmission line connecting BEL to Mexico’s Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), the company has said.

And to make matters worse, the power plant for Blair Athol Power Company Limited (BAPCOL) unexpectedly required urgent maintenance and became unavailable.

Both BAPCOL and BEL’s gas turbine plant are essential as backup suppliers if there is an interruption in power from CFE. These unfortunate incidents resulted in an unstable power supply that subsequently caused the grid to collapse.

In an interview, BEL’s General Manager of Energy Supply and Transmission, Jose Moreno, outlined the complex situation for customers.

He said, “… we lost the in-country supply at a time when we were disconnected from Mexico. The system was unstable because most of our supply sources are small, and any contingency, any event, any fault can end up collapsing the grid.”

Additionally, Moreno highlighted an unexpected surge in electricity demand. This year’s demand had already exceeded projections by more than 3.5%, and by the looks of it, is expected to further increase in the coming weeks.

Moreno attributed this unusual increase to the effects of climate change (which has resulted in intense heat waves that have prompted many to use fans and air conditioners more frequently) and a resurgent economy.

Furthermore, Belize faces additional challenges with the arrival of the hurricane season and increasing summer temperatures. These factors pose potential threats to the country’s power supply, which is already under stress.

BEL acknowledges these environmental factors and understands their potential impact on the country’s power infrastructure.

Nevertheless, Moreno made it clear in a press conference on June 8 that the company is fully prepared to deal with these challenges.

He warned that the power lines are vulnerable, particularly to storm damage, and stressed the importance of the maintenance work being carried out to enhance their resilience.

“The maintenance work that we’re conducting was to improve the lightning protection of those lines, and with the freak storm that we have seen, we are seeing, we have that exposure,” he explained.

While acknowledging the vulnerable situation, Moreno also sought to reassure customers.

He urged the public not to panic, but to practice energy conservation when they are able to do so to help alleviate the burden on the power grid. He specifically pointed out that, although refrigeration and air conditioning units account for 30% of the demand, BEL isn’t asking the public to stop using them. Instead, the company encourages everyone to be more mindful of their energy use.

The truth of Moreno’s words was confirmed shortly after the the conference, as multiple parts of the country experienced power outages more than once throughout the day.

According to Facebook statuses posted on BEL’s Power Updates page, residents from San Pedro Town experienced 3 power outages, 2 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon.

Others on the mainland, particularly Camalote and Ontario villages in the Cayo district, reported two short blackouts.

In these three areas, residents noted that the outage lasted only a few minutes at a time.

As of press time, we have not been notified of other areas being affected. However, despite the challenges, according to BEL, they continue to work tirelessly to deliver reliable power to the nation.