The electric crisis is about to get worse
An excellent, alarming piece by César Batiz in Clímax highlights the coming gloom for Venezuelans: Guri, the country’s most important dam, is not getting enough water. The dry period is about to begin, and thermal plants do not have enough installed capacity available. After a reported $38 billion spent on revamping the country’s electricity generating sector (Derwick gets a mention), we are about to enter a dark, grim period in our history.
The experts consulted argue that this is worse than the drought of 2009, when Chávez mistakenly claimed it was the worst drought in history. The stand-out part for me:
“Lara (former Planning Manager for Guri) specifies that between May and September, the dam receives 75% of its water. But evidently, according to the Minister’s own words, this did not happen because “The Simón Bolívar Hydroelectric Generating Plant is eight meters below the level it had in January of 2014.” This is bad news, because the first month of the year is also one of the driest.”
The piece is in Spanish, but it is well worth your read.
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