The northern half of the peninsula will face a deficit in projected power production this summer that could force brownouts / blackouts

MEXICALI – Officials from the Baja California State Energy Commission (CEE) announced that during the coming 2021 summer season, Baja California will face an energy deficit of approximately 600 megawatts at peak consumption times.

Miriam Álvarez Hernández, director of the CEE assured the state’s energy consumers that the National Center for Energy Control (CENACE) is working to install additional energy producing sources to address the projected deficit.

She went on to explain that last year only eight of the eleven companies that originally were approved and given contracts to build cogeneration power plants were actually able to complete their projects in Baja California.

“The three plants that were not completed were all due to a lack of sufficient natural gas in the pipelines required for the operation of cogeneration power plants due to unforeseen market forces affecting natural gas distribution over the last several months.”

Hernández added that “steps are being taken to relocate the needed power plants as well as approving additional projects to help meet the current and future power demand as Baja California continues to grow and thousands of new connections are added to the regional power grid each month.

In recent months, officials with the Comisión Federal de Electricidad of Mexico (CFE) have announced that they are even considering a plan to build a nuclear power plant along the Baja California coastline as an option to meet the growing future demand.

Power Rationing

In the meantime, both the state and federal agencies will be initiating a statewide campaign to promote power conservation this summer for both home and business consumers.

Suggested measures include curtailing the use of air conditioning as well as appliances such as washing machines or dryers during the peak afternoon hours.

Following the suggested conservation recommendation will help avoid brownouts / blackouts that occur when the power demand exceeds the available output on the grid.

BCS power grid safe – for now

State officials from the southern half of the Baja peninsula assure us that with the installation of new cogeneration power plants, sufficient power should be available for consumers in BCS to meet the normal summer power demand this year.

To help meet the future demand for Baja California Sur, projects for additional power plants have been approved and are expected to come online within the coming months.

The underwater cable project that was designed to connect the southern Baja peninsula with mainland Mexico to provide both a stable source of power as well as additional fiber optic capacity has been stalled but the state governor has formally petitioned Mexican president Lopez Obrador to restart the much needed project which would also help justify the connection of new renewable energy projects such as large scale solar and wind turbine installations.