Yesterday we gave you a preview of the media tour with Fortis Belize in the Cayo District, as they took the press to the Chalillo Dam. Here's Jomarie Lanza's full report:
As the economy and population continues to grow, so does Belize's power demands.
May's power crisis was a testament to this, but funding and developing more in-country power sources is far more challenging than it may seem.
Take Fortis for example, the owners of The 25-megawatt Mollejon hydroelectric facility, the 7.3-megawatt Chalillo hydroelectric facility, and the 19-megawatt Vaca hydroelectric facility, each located on the Macal River. They supply BEL with 40% of the country's power, and after touring their Chalillo facility yesterday, we got a first hand look as to where and how our renewable energy is produced:
Kay Menzies, CEO, Fortis Belize
"I think it's important for the public to see what's happening and how energy comes down to everybody's house as it were."
"So you know a fuller understanding of how the dams operate the safety factors the flood prevention mechanisms as well as the electricity generation these are fascinating marvels behind me as far as engineering goes and it's good to be able to expose it to the public which normally isn't so easy because we are so far away from everybody."
There are a number of factors, climate change being one, which impact the way Fortis harnesses the power of water to produce energy. They've begun to explore other renewable energy options, one of them being solar.
Ted Pate, Operations Manager, Fortis Belize
"So Fortis Belize limited, previously known as BECOL, Belize electric company limited, is owned by Fortis of Newfoundland Canada and we are one of the larger or largest renewable sources of energy here in Belize. That source comes from Hydro Electricity as you can see here in the background the Chalillo Dam which provides us with the largest reservoir here in Belize that then feeds down to our other power plants which is the Mollejón and Vaca and that gives us the capability of producing roughly about 40% of the country's power by a renewable source, so that is basically what we at Fortis Belize is committed to providing for the country."
"As we all know with climate change, for example what we rely on is rainfall but that has become even more difficult to predict. Last year or this year alone have been a clear example of what climate change could do to this aspect of renewable energy. To complement that however Fortis Belize is also looking into the possibility of complimenting hydro with solar. So take for example we have 7 Megawatts of power available through Hydro here at this location but during the dry season the limits us and it throttles us down to sometimes maybe 1.5 to 2 megawatts at a time in extreme dry situations as we experienced this year. What if we were to add 7 or 8 Megawatts of solar during the dry season when you have no rainfall you have the best sunlight and you could maintain a constant supply of additional energy from this location to the grid there would be you know basically maximizing the natural resource that we have. Sunlight at a certain period of the year and the rainfall, increased reservoir levels during the rainy period of the year. That would then add to the stability of the grid and ensure the Belizean public that we have that continuous supply from renewable sources."
Despite being a foreign owned company all 46 of Fortis Belize's employees are Belizean. Like Operations Manager Lizbeth Correa for example who's been with the company for two years.
Lizbeth Correa, Operation Maintenance, Fortis Belize
"Well I feel very privileged because Fortis gave me an opportunity to be working here as the first operator, the first female operator yeah."
"Here at Chalillo we operate two generators which produce energy that is sent back to the grid."
"We ensure that all of the parameters are good in order to start up the unit and bring up the desired load."
It's a highly technical, specialized and important job, and Fortis is hoping that it can excite more young minds like Lizbeth to consider the renewable energy sector as a career opportunity:
Kay Menzies, CEO, Fortis Belize
"We have - as I was saying to somebody earlier - a fair amount of industrial activity in Belize that people don't get to see and hear about. And it's important especially if you look at high school kids trying to figure out where they are going to go into education what fields of education and so on, these facilities allow for opportunities in terms of a space that is very much in the early stages and that's renewable energy. Very exciting, lots of innovation, lots of early adoption going on and so to expose people and to see what's happening in the clean energy space is very very important and I think definitely we have to do it more often."
