The Minister of Energy and Mines, Anthony Almonteassured today that the entry of several generators at the end of May will guarantee the stability of the national electricity system.
“Punta Catalina I is expected to start operating on May 30 and, in addition, the Los Mina V and VII generators will enter the system during the week, contributing more than 200 megawatts; while Estrella de Mar III will increase the offer by an additional 70 megawatts”, he said.
He assured that with the reincorporation of these generators “the country will return to the point of electrical stability” with a supply greater than the demand, but with a narrow margin with respect to supply and demand.
“When those plants come in, we will recover the electrical stability that we ourselves have maintained for almost a year and nine months. That stability that is missed today was the one that we guarantee by supplying 99 percent of the energy demand”, he emphasized.
Regarding the measures adopted to correct the generation deficit, he said that what he did was talk with the executives of Barrick Gold and Falcondo so that they increase the offer of energy that they supply to the system as part of their surpluses from their production process.
Last Monday, of the total energy not supplied, 96.92% was due to internal distribution causes, 2.92% due to low voltage in the National Interconnected Electric System (SENI) and 1.06% due to transmission.
The minister explained that at the end of last year an emergency tender for 400 new megawatts was launched, which ended in March, and that 200 of these were awarded and will be installed in October this year, to ensure a supply greater than the demand.