02/05/2024
Press release issued May 2, 2024
BEL Experiences Temporary Generation Shortages due to Curtailment of Supply from CFE
Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) hereby informs our Customers and the public that we have received communication from Comisiรณn Federal de Electricidad (CFE) in Mexico regarding challenges they are facing in sustaining the energy supply to our network. CFE advised that effective 10:00 a.m. on May 2, 2024, they are curtailing energy supply to Belize for 13 hours. In response to this development, CFE has requested that BEL utilizes its local generation resources to meet the national demand.
As a result, BEL is preparing to address the impact of this interruption. Starting at 10:00 a.m. this morning, load shedding will become necessary for various sections of the country to effectively manage the available energy supply. Areas likely to be impacted in the first instance include portions of Orange Walk. In the early afternoon, load shedding is expected to impact portions of Corozal, San Ignacio, Dangriga and Independence.
Load shedding is a controlled process of temporarily reducing electricity consumption across different areas to ensure the stability and continuous operation of the national electricity grid.
Load Shedding Schedule May 2, 2024
10:00 a.m.
Portions of Rural Orange Walk
11:00 a.m.
Portions of Rural Orange Walk
12:00 p.m.
Portions of Rural Orange Walk
1:00 p.m.
Portions of Corozal, San Ignacio and Dangriga
2:00 p.m.
Portions of Corozal, San Ignacio and Dangriga
3:00 p.m.
Portions of Orange Walk Town, Corozal, San Ignacio, Dangriga, and Belize, Independence, and Punta Gorda
4:00 p.m.
Portions of Orange Walk Town, Corozal, San Ignacio, Belize, Belmopan, Independence, and Punta Gorda
5:00 p.m.
Portions of Orange Walk Town, Corozal, San Ignacio, Belize City, Belmopan, Independence, and Punta Gorda
6:00 p.m.
Portions of Corozal, Belize City, San Ignacio, Belmopan, Independence and Punta Gorda
7:00 p.m.
Portions of Rural Orange Walk, Rural Corozal including Free Zone, Belize City, Ladyville, Belmopan, Dangriga, Independence, and Punta Gorda.
8:00 p.m.
Portions of Rural Orange Walk, Rural Corozal including Free Zone, Belize City, Ladyville, Belmopan, Dangriga, Independence, and Punta Gorda.
9:00 p.m.
Portions of Rural Orange Walk, Rural Corozal including Free Zone, Belize City, and Ladyville and Dangriga
10:00 p.m.
Portions of Corozal Town, Belize City, Ladyville and Dangriga
11:00 p.m.
Portions of Corozal Town, Belize City and Independence
As we had earlier informed Customers, our gas turbine at Westlake on the George Price Highway, which is one of our major backup power sources, is being upgraded and is currently out of service. This generating unit is scheduled to be brought back online early next week. We are also installing a gas turbine in San Pedro which should be completed before the end of May. These will add 30 MW of additional generation capacity to the grid. Together, these additional generation sources will put us in a much better position to meet demand if supply from CFE is curtailed, especially during the high demand months of May through July.
We thank our Customers for their patience and understanding and assure our Customers that we are making every effort to maintain safe, reliable, and sustainable energy supply to all service areas countrywide.
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