By Breaking Belize News Staff (HP): As Belize works to ease pressure on its electricity supply, a public forum today will look at the role smaller scale generation, like rooftop solar, can play.
The Distributed Generation Forum takes place from 10am to 1pm at the Caribbean Motors showroom on the Philip Goldson Highway and will be livestreamed.
In September, Cabinet approved an emergency declaration for electricity generation after BEL forecast a significant shortfall in supply over the next twelve months. The declaration allows BEL to begin procuring additional capacity.
BEL has reported that during two major outages in August, local generation was already below demand when electricity from Mexico was temporarily lost. The company has also warned that controlled power interruptions may be needed if a major source of supply is unexpectedly lost.
CEO Leroy Almendarez said anyone planning to feed power into the grid must go through the proper process.
“From BEL’s point of view, again, if you are going to be supplying or feeding power to me, then it simply means I need to know who you are, what systems you have, et cetera,” he said.
He said the goal is for people to leave with a better understanding of distributed generation, how to get involved and the steps needed for compliance.
The public can join online and submit questions to the panel, which includes BEL, the PUC and the Ministry.
