Mexico utility presents peninsula energy plan

The head of Mexico’s state power company CFE, Manuel Bartlett, assured the governor of Baja California Sur state, Carlos Mendoza, that the entity and the government want to resolve the state’s electricity deficit swiftly, according to the state government.

Meeting in the wake of massive power outages, Bartlett and Mendoza discussed projects to meet the tourism hub’s growing power needs, including an LNG power plant for which construction is set to begin this month and a submarine cable which has been delayed.

Critics claim the crisis stems from long neglect of the power infrastructure.

“We were told that the installed generation capacity in Baja California Sur is sufficient to meet demand. We consume 550MW during peak hours, and we have installed capacity to produce 739MW,” Mendoza said. “However, the current problem lies in the lack of maintenance of the equipment, causing a strong imbalance of 200MW, between supply and demand.”

In a statement, CFE said Bartlett supports the governor, adding that despite the challenges of providing electricity to a quasi-insular system like Baja California Sur’s, keeping up the service is a priority.

Bartlett promised “to make the greatest efforts so that the entity has the electrical system to which it is entitled.”

Last month a 72-hour power outage aroused attention, leading Bartlett to announce plans for five new combined cycle power plants, two in Baja California Sur and three in Mérida, which also suffers under a power deficit.

Amid growing public scrutiny at the time, Bartlett deflected the problem onto failures of past administrations for debilitating conditions at plants.

Mendoza said Bartlett promised that CFE would install an emergency generator that was last deployed during hurricane “Odile” in Los Cabos.

CFE would also rehabilitate two plants to restore 80MW to the state’s grid. Bartlett also mentioned plans for two new plants. CFE told BNamericas it would provide more details of these plants once they become available.

"With these three actions, [CFE] hopes to stabilize the emergency situation that has been generated and, of course, avoid more blackouts for the remainder of the summer, which is when more energy is consumed in the state,” Mendoza said.

PICHILINGUE IN PROGRESS

Mendoza also discussed the planned 100MW LNG power plant for Pichilingue port (pictured), to be built by US energy contractor New Fortress Energy.

According to local daily El Sudcaliforniano, the director of the state port authority (API-BCS), José López Soto, said construction on the plant would begin “next Friday.” Requests for clarification went unanswered from both New Fortress Energy and API-BCS.

The newspaper report added that the Pichilingue plant represents an investment of US$200mn and would be connected to CFE’s plant in Punta Prieta.

According to the report, work would begin with dredging and take nine months. Once completed, the plant is projected to have enough capacity to provide natural gas to Baja California Sur for three consecutive days, in its first stage supplying industrial demand, particularly hotels and restaurants.

López Soto reportedly indicated the API would grant 8,000m2 in the port, for which the gas company would pay 1.5mn pesos (US$75,700) per month including shipping operations.

Some calculations estimate that the use of gas could lower electricity costs in the state by 60%.

UNDERSEA CABLE

Mendoza also reiterated calls for CFE to reinvigorate plans for an undersea power transmission line to the coast of Sonora and Sinaloa states, connecting the mainland Mexico grid to that of the peninsula’s.

Mendoza said the cable was needed to solve the state’s power problems in the medium term until more local capacity came online.

HUMAN IMPACT

The energy crisis is also affecting the tourism-focused economy and the population at large.

Local daily, El Sudcaliforniano reported Thursday that thousands of CFE users ran out of power on Tuesday, with as many as eight power outage events affecting La Paz, Los Cabos and Ciudad Constitución.

The latest power outages occurred on one of the hottest days of a particularly warm summer on the peninsula with temperatures climbing above 40°C.