Posted: Saturday, September 27, 2025. 11:16 pm CST.
By Aaron Humes: Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) has issued a detailed statement regarding the significant power outage that occurred across the country on Friday, September 26, impacting thousands of customers.
The outage began at 1:52 p.m. when BEL lost supply from its major supplier, Mexico’s Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), due to a system collapse in the Yucatan Peninsula. At that time, CFE was supplying 46 percent of Belize’s electricity demand. The outage led to widespread service disruptions, affecting nearly all service areas, with the exceptions being Belmopan, Ladyville, and parts of San Ignacio and rural Belize District.
In response to the sudden loss of electricity supply, BEL’s grid protection systems were activated to restore balance in the national grid by implementing load shedding, effectively cutting power to various areas. This emergency measure was necessary to manage the system’s overload, which was intensified by an energy demand that surpassed local generation capacity by 17 percent during the peak afternoon hours.
While the Westlake Gas Turbine and the Fortis Belize and Hydro Maya hydroelectric plants provided some support, BEL quickly brought the San Pedro Gas Turbine online as part of its recovery efforts. Power was fully restored to Belize City within an hour, but rotational load shedding continued until the supply from CFE was reinstated at 11:30 p.m.
The ongoing power shortage within the country has been attributed to multiple factors, including the sugar off-season, which has rendered bagasse-based generation unavailable, as well as maintenance issues at local hydro facilities. Specifically, one unit at the Mollejon hydro dam is out of service until mid-October, and another unit at BAPCOL is indefinitely offline.
BEL said it is keen on enhancing the country’s local generation capacity and is exploring long-term solutions that include utility-scale solar, distributed generation, and battery storage initiatives. The utility provider acknowledges that while gas turbines play a critical role in immediate responses, a more diversified energy strategy is needed for sustainable operation in the future.
“We extend our sincere thanks to all our employees for their dedication, especially our System Control team and Gas Turbine operators who worked tirelessly during the event,” stated BEL in its press release. The utility also expressed gratitude to customers for their patience and understanding during the outage.
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The post BEL reports on major power outage, country currently underpowered in local supply appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
Posted: Saturday, September 27, 2025. 11:16 pm CST. By Aaron Humes: Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) has issued a detailed statement regarding the significant power outage that
The post BEL reports on major power outage, country currently underpowered in local supply appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.