Mexico suffers another day of blackout
Mexico City, Feb. 17: Mexican authorities announced on Tuesday that rolling blackouts would hit 12 states covering more than one-third of the country, extending the power cuts from northern Mexico into the central part of the nation as hundreds of factories were forced to shut down.
The announcement by the National Energy Control office marked the third day that winter storms in Texas cut the supply of imported natural gas on which northern Mexico depends for generating much if its electricity.
The export-oriented National Council of the Maquiladora Industry said hundreds of plants perhaps as many as 1,600 were shutting down due to the lack of power, throwing hundreds of thousands out of work.
The council complained that authorities were announcing the blackouts over Twitter with no warning or coordination. Council president Luis
Hernandez called for organising the blackouts, perhaps as predictable time blocks so industries could at least plan shutdowns.
You can’t just be telling people, ‘Look on Twitter,’ he said. Rosalinda Torres, head of the maquiladora council in the border city of Matamoros, said all the factories there were closed.
The losses are going to run into the millions, she said. Much of the north remains without reliable power, and the rolling blackouts Tuesday were also hitting millions in Mexico's central industrial heartland and states as far south as Guerrero.
Starting late Sunday, freezing weather in Texas led to a chain of events that left almost 5 million households and businesses in northern Mexico without power.
Mexico’s governmentowned utility, the Federal Electricity Commission, said its operations were left short as the winter storm in Texas froze natural gas pipelines. Private plants supply about 80% of power in northern Mexico, and most of those are gas-fired.
Overall, Mexico uses gas to generate about 60% of its power, compared to about 40% in the United States. Mexico built pipelines to take advantage of cheap natural gas from the US, often obtained by fracking in Texas, but Mexico does not allow fracking in its own territory. —