In the summer of 2019, the shortage of natural gas has caused the cost of electricity generation in the Yucatan Peninsula to increase by 10 million pesos per day, according to Mexico’s National Center for Energy Control (Centro Nacional de Control de Energía: Cenace).
It is increasingly difficult to produce electricity in the peninsular region due to the shortage of natural gas.
“The surcharge of electricity generation in the Yucatan Peninsula due to the shortage of gas has reached 10 million pesos (2.1 million USD) per day during the summer of 2019″, stated the National Center for Energy Control (Cenace).
This situation is due to the lack of fulfillment of the gas supply contracts by power plants, and has caused a significant increase in marginal costs in the national market.
Yucatan needs at least 350 million cubic feet of natural gas a day, but only 70 million are received, of which about 80 percent goes to the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) for electric power generation, and only 20 percent to the business sector.
Cenace added that private companies that generate electricity through solar and wind sources have benefited from these costs.
It should be noted that at the end of August, the National Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism (Canaco Servytur) of Mérida through its president, Michel Salum Francis, declared that the new injection of 50 million cubic feet of natural gas announced for Yucatán, only represents a palliative that will help companies get a little more of that fuel for their processes, but not enough to lower their costs.
“Therefore, there is a huge energy deficit that does not allow our state to be competitive in the industrial sector”, said the business leader.
The National Energy Control Center (Cenace) is currently working on the planning of the electricity grid, while more power generation is needed. The gas problem is expected to be solved with the construction of the Combined Cycle plant “Merida IV”, of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), which will add 500 megawatts of capacity by the summer of 2020.
The institution mentioned last month that the best option to bring more natural gas to the Yucatan Peninsula is with a fuel storage and regasification ship that injects from the port of Dos Bocas (Tabasco) through infrastructure of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), and with the collaboration of the Mayakán company gas pipeline.
The Yucatan Times Newsroom
