Electricity consumption in Mexico has soared due to an ongoing heatwave, putting immense pressure on the grid and causing the country’s energy authority to issue an alert over grid capacity.
Temperatures in Mexico have reached 45°C in some parts of the country. The grid briefly entered a state of emergency late on Tuesday, according to National Centre for Energy Control (Cenace), reaching an operating reserve margin of under 6%.
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According to Reuters, the government previously tried to down-play reports of blackouts. The alert issued by the energy authority is rarely used; the last time the country entered a state of emergency was in 2021, the Cenace said.
Last week, daily demand reached unprecedented levels of almost 51GW, Jorge Musalem, an executive at the national electricity federation, said in a tweet. According to Cenace data, daily demand was projected to be even higher, peaking at 51.8GW .
Surges in electricity demand during high temperatures is due largely to increases in air conditioning use. Summer peaks mimic similar capacity problems as in especially cold winters, where heating use goes up considerably.
Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador dismissed energy concerns during a news conference on Wednesday, Reuters reports. He insisted that the alert from Cenace was just “routine” and that there was nothing to worry about.
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By GlobalData“There’s more consumption, but we don’t have any difficulties. There’s no problem,” he said. “It’s our responsibility that there aren’t blackouts.”
A town in Michoacan state had previously been without any electricity for several days after an emergency transmitter exploded. Lopez Obrador said that this was an exception, adding that just eight people had died so far this year from heat in the country.
A spokesperson for the government also stressed that energy supplies were stable nationwide, and that reports over blackouts and emergencies were “fearmongering”.
