Battery storage to lead Belize power investment plan

Belize Electricity’s (BEL) capital investment program for the next five years reaches BZ$520mn (US$258mn).

The bulk of spend will go to install 40MW of battery storage (BZ$100mn), according to a prospectus from the power utility for a debentures issue of up to BZ$65mn, proceeds from which would help finance the capital program.

Other outlays include the overhaul of the emergency gas turbine facility (BZ$38mn), a second underwater cable to San Pedro (BZ$37.7mn), advanced metering infrastructure (BZ$36.3mn), a 115kV line and substation to connect North Ladyville (BZ$34.5mn), and a 115kV line between La Democracia and Dangriga (BZ$31.6mn).

BEL highlights that demand hit a record 126MW in October driven by higher temperatures. The company serves 108,000 customers via 2,000km of transmission and primary distribution lines.

In 2022, the utility sourced 685GWh, 47.2% of which came from Mexico’s CFE, 34.8% from hydro, 13.7% from biomass, 4.2% from fossil fuel plants and 0.1% from JICA (University of Belize Solar Facility).

BEL is waiting regulatory approval to implement phase one of its least cost system expansion, which would increase capacity by 91.5 MW by 2027, with 69.5MW from competitive bidding and 22MW by BEL.

The prospectus is available here and in the Documents box in the top right corner.