The generating companies of the National Interconnected Electric System (SENI) increased the energy produced in 2021, reaching 19,431.1 gigawatt-hours (GWh), an increase of 10% when compared to the previous period.
Data from the SENI Coordinating Body (OC) show that during last year the generators managed to produce 1,767.9 GWh more than in 2020, the year in which 17,663.2 gigawatt-hours were generated, a electric power mainly from non-renewable sources.
The growth experienced in electricity generation during the past year it was the second highest in the last 10 years, only surpassed by the increase that was registered in 2019, of 10.8%, according to the records of the OC.
In 2021, the following generating plants entered SENI: the Bayahonda and El Girasol photovoltaic solar parks, and the Estrella del Mar three natural gas combined cycle plant is in the process of being connected, explains the agency’s report.
The combined cycle (which combines a gas and a steam turbine) and solar were the technologies that registered the greatest growth in the electricity generated in 2021, when compared to the previous year.
Combined cycle plants contributed 5,912 GWh last year, a net increase of 3,272 gigawatt-hours compared to what was generated in 2020, when the figure rose to 2,640, equivalent to an increase of 124%.
Similarly, the electricity generated by solar technology registered a growth of 59.3% during 2021. Of the 305 GWh that this type of energy contributed to SENI in 2020, the figure rose to 486 the following year, representing a net increase of 181 gigawatt-hours.
Hydroelectric plants also increased their contribution to the total energy produced by the power plants of the electrical system in 2021. This type of technology managed to go from 1,245 gigawatt-hours in 2020 to 1,496 last year, a net increase of 251 GWh.
In the case of wind power, they generated 1,231 GWh last year, adding 8% more than in 2020. While combustion engines (4.4%) and steam turbines (1.5%), equivalent to 5,363 and 6,820 gigawatts- hour, respectively.
