Mexico, the fifteenth largest economy in the world, is reaching the limits of consumption and generation of electrical energy, with some states suffering momentary power outages, according to reports in the Mexican press.
"Heat raises alert about low electricity reserves in Mexico," says the main article of the Mexican newspaper El Economista in its economy section. The newspaper La Razon published: "They anticipate more power blackouts in the country due to high temperatures."
According to the energy expert, Gonzalo Monroy, from the GMEC consulting firm, "in the last 48 hours (Monday and Tuesday) in more than 17 states there were occasional blackouts, not general ones, in the Mexican electrical system."
Since last week, the Mexican authorities warned of an unusual heat wave, which caused a dizzying increase in temperatures, which in some cities in the north of the country exceeded 50 degrees Celsius (more than 122 degrees Fahrenheit).
The heatwave triggered the consumption of electrical energy in the country by air conditioning systems. On Tuesday night, the government National Center for Energy Control (Cenace) issued an alert that the operating reserve margin in the Mexican electrical system was less than 6.0 percent.
According to Monroy, under normal conditions, that margin should be between 20 and 25 percent. With 6.0 percent, the alerts are turned on because for July, experts have predicted another wave of unusual heat in Mexico.
With the low operating margin, the risk is that there will be temporary power outages in some regions.
“If a power plant fails there will be widespread blackouts mainly in regions like the Baja California and Yucatan peninsulas. In the northeast of the country, in Coahuila, Tamaulipas and Nuevo León. Also in southern Veracruz,” Monroy said.
The specialist, who spoke in an interview with journalist Carlos Loret de Mola, on the Latinus news, said that given the refusal of the federal government, there are 30 renewable electricity plants already built that cannot be integrated into the system and are without production for the energy policy of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The plants could provide 11 percent more electricity generation to ensure the continued operation of industries such as the steel sector, which is one of the largest consumers of electricity.