April and May are the hottest months of the year, and that's when electricity consumption is highest - because everyone is maxing out their fans and air conditioners.
And that's why BEL is scrambling to create more generation capacity. It may be late, but a team from General Electric has commenced works to upgrade the capacity of the Gas Turbine at BEL's West Lake facility at Mile 8 on the George Price Highway. They plan to increase the overall generation capacity by 11 megawatts.
The works are underway and scheduled to be completed by Sunday, May 5, 2024. But, the bad news is that the Westlake Gas Turbine will be unavailable throughout this time. So, as a result, the in-country generation will be significantly reduced meaning that BEL will have to lean on high cost power from CFE in Mexico to fill the energy needs.
BEL warns, quote, "until the upgrade works are completed, BEL will be completely dependent on the supply from CFE, Mexico to meet demand during these times of the day, and the loss of supply from CFE or any other generation unit will likely result in significant power interruptions." End quote.
BEL is asking Customers to assist in this fragile period to conserve energy where possible, quote, "especially during the peak demand hours and hot and humid weather conditions."
