The biggest news story for Belize in May 2024 has been the rolling power outages in Belize which have occurred across the country during the first two weeks of the month.
The immediate cause of these rolling power outages in Belize stems from the fact that the national power company in Belize, Belize Electricity Limited (BEL), does not have sufficient in-country capacity to produce enough power to meet demand; thus, BEL purchases power from the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) in Mexico everyday in order to meet the demand for electricity here in Belize.
However, due to greatly increased demand and related issues on the Mexican side of the border, CFE announced early in May that they would need to curtail the amount of electricity that they could supply to Belize. While it is unknown how long the recent Mexican power-supply problems will continue, BEL believes that energy supply curtailments to Belize from Mexico may increase in the future, according to BEL:
“The Yucatan peninsula, including Mexico’s popular tourist destinations, has been experiencing rapid economic growth, leading to a significant increase in energy demand, similar to the trends observed in Belize.”
Belize Electricity Limited
Because of the reduced supply to the Belize power grid from CFE in Mexico, in early May, BEL was forced to begin load shedding in order to keep the grid intact. While the company tried to announce in advance when and where the rolling power outages in Belize would occur, at times, they were at the mercy of increased demand, and certain districts lost power for hours without prior notice.
What is BEL and how do they supply electricity to Belize?
BEL is the national power company in Belize, and the Government of Belize has direct ownership of 32.6% interest in the company, while the Social Security Board of Belize owns 31.2% resulting in public sector interest of 63.8%. Fortis Cayman Inc., a private company, which is both a shareholder in BEL and a vendor that produces electricity and sells it to BEL, owns a 33.3% interest in the company. Finally, over 1,500 small shareholders own the remaining 2.9% interest in ordinary shares of BEL.
BEL is the primary distributor of electricity in Belize, and they own and maintain the grid infrastructure here; however, BEL produces relatively little electricity. Most of the electricity is produced by private companies here in Belize, and the balance of the load required has always been purchased from CFE in Mexico.
Will the power outages in Belize continue?
When there are very hot and dry conditions in Belize, BEL says that “Daily electricity demand levels have varied between 85 MW and 125 MW throughout the day, while in-country generation capacity is currently a maximum of 95 MW.”
Aside from the curtailment of power supply from CFE in Mexico, another cause of the recent power outages in Belize was the fact that one of the large back-up generators, the Westlake Gas Turbine, had been taken offline for an upgrade.
The Westlake Gas Turbine was originally rated at 19 MW of generation capacity, but after the upgrade, BEL says that the generator can now deliver up to 30 MW, which puts in-country capacity at around 95 MW. This is still not enough to meet 100% of demand on peak days, but it is a significant improvement for load management.
One downside for this new in-country capacity to generate electricity here in Belize is the fact that the upgraded Westlake Gas Turbine would consume up to 30,000 gallons of fuel per day when operated at capacity.
With its very small population, even with government controls on the price of fuel here, Belize has some of the highest fuel prices in the world simply because economies of scale are really not possible here for any commodity.
Are there long-term plans to improve the electricity situation and reduce power outages in Belize?
One of the major components in BEL’s long-term capital improvement plans for the Belize electric grid is to bring online a utility-grade solar power plant which could supply as much as 60 MW of additional capacity to the grid.
In August 2023, Belize signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia for a loan of $77 million USD to be used to build utility-grade solar production in Belize. At the time of signing the agreement the Prime Minister of Belize described the need for additional capacity:
“We just signed a loan for $77 million and that will allow us to be able to set up a solar plant for 60 megawatts. As you all know because the economy has been growing so fast the energy consumption also is increasing and we are going to soon max out what we have. That is one part.
The second part is that also Mexico is having problems with energy. Presently we produce sustainably, 61% through renewable sources of energy, 61%. We want to go to 100% and solar is one of those ways. This investment will help us to get towards that 100%. Secondly, it will take us towards being fully energy independent. That is why we felt that this loan is very important for us. It is a loan that we pay only 2% per annum and I think it’s going to be paid over 30 years. So it’s a big win for the Belizeans.”
John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize
Additional electricity storage and generating capacity heading for the country’s largest tourism market, Ambergris Caye
Ambergris Caye, which includes the town of San Pedro, has seen the fastest development of any region in Belize, and this year, on peak days, the island has had more demand for electricity than supply available to the grid.
Ambergris Caye gets its electricity to the island grid via an undersea cable which runs from the Belize mainland to the island. This cable is rated to carry 17 MW of electricity, and this year, during peak season, there were a number of days when the demand was greater than the cable capacity; thus, there were unplanned power outages on the island in the middle of the busy tourist season.
BEL says not only had the capacity of the undersea cable been exceeded, but that the cable is also in need of maintenance, and sooner rather than later, a new cable, with a larger capacity needs to be ran from the mainland to the island.
To stabilize the island electric supply, BEL announced that they intend to bring online a new 20 MW generator on the island of Ambergris Caye, and this generator should be online by the end of May.
If the 30 MW Westlake generator which was recently upgraded requires 30,000 gallons of fuel per day to run at capacity, it seems reasonable to assume that 20 MW will require 20,000 gallons per day if it is operated at capacity. I can not imagine how BEL will ship and store this fuel if this generator needs to operate at full capacity for any real length of time.
Battery Backup for Ambergris Caye
Along with the new generator that is forecast to come online by the end of May 2024 on Ambergris Caye, BEL has also announced that along with the Government of Belize, they are working to set up a 10-megawatt battery energy storage facility in San Pedro that is scheduled to come online in 2025 and will provide further capacity support during periods of high demand on the island.
There was some controversy on the island concerning the battery storage facility, as BEL decided to use a large swath of mangrove forest for the new facility. The Green Iguana Sanctuary had been operating on this land for a number of years, so many local residents were very disappointed to see both the clear cutting of mangrove forest, as well as the removal of most of the Iguana Sanctuary from the site.
Aside from the really shortsighted practice of clearing mangrove forests (they are nature’s best defense against erosion, hurricanes, and storm surge), in my view, if BEL is going to make the major investment in a battery storage facility, why do they not tie it in with some kind of utility grade solar project on the island?
Power outages in Belize final thoughts
The recent power outages in Belize have been all over the news here everyday for several weeks now, but the root causes of this electricity supply problem did not appear overnight. In my 3.5 years living in San Pedro prior to moving to Corozal, even though some of my time there was during the strict pandemic lockdown, the pace of development was astounding.
I have to wonder whether anyone, including especially politicians and major developers, gave any thought about infrastructure needs before submitting their large projects for review and then having them approved.
Someone had to approve permits to hook up all of these new buildings up to the grid, right? And major developers should have some knowledge of the kind of electricity requirements that a 100 or more room project will require, no?
My hope is that this small, rapidly developing country will have learned something from this experience, and infrastructure needs might become part of the planning process and permitting process for large developments.
If there are any ongoing news stories you would like to see covered here, please feel free to contact me, and if you are just starting your research on Belize, take a look at our Introduction to Belize article.