We also asked Marshalleck to switch hats and speak about the upgrades at BEL's West Lake facility where a team of engineers and technicians from General Electric has commenced works to upgrade the capacity of the Gas Turbine at to 30 MW from its current maximum output of 19 MW.
So, that means that four the next few weeks - generation capacity will be limited.
We asked him why its being staged at the height of the dry season:
Andrew Marshalleck, Chairman - BEL
"So, BEL has taken upon itself to do certain things, make certain investments, to put capacity on the ground in the shortest time period possible. The quickest way to get some power in was to upgrade the GET, which was planned in any event at West Lake, and we also bought a mobile plant for San Pedro, a 21 -megawatt plant from GE."
Jules Vasquez
"But is it optimal to do it at this time?"
Andrew Marshalleck, Chairman - BEL
"Well that was the question that was before us, because we got notice from CFE that they would be cutting us in order to do certain repairs for certain dates. Now the question is whether we make an effort to try to get that capacity in and operational before those cuts took place, or we wait until after those cuts take place so that we have that smaller capacity in the interim and undertake the actual installations after. And we decided to go for it before, because we're anticipating heat waves on top of all of that, on top of those cuts, means we need more capacity. The upgrade is costing 34 million or thereabouts, and the new GT for San Pedro is also another 35, 36 million dollars. So the total investments there are close to 70 million."
Jules Vasquez
"Explain how these new plants will be fueled. Will you all be using LNG?"
Andrew Marshalleck, Chairman - BEL
"Both plants are being modified to run out of any of three fuels. It's diesel, LNG, or LPG."
"And given difficulties with sourcing LNG, I think the LPG option - well, in the short run, they'll run off diesel, and then they'll be converted to run off LPG, is the thinking."
Until the upgrade works are completed, BEL will be completely dependent on the supply from CFE, Mexico to meet demand at peak times of the day, and the loss of supply from CFE or any other generation unit will likely result in significant power interruptions. So customers are being asked to implement energy conservation measures.
Email
Print