To avoid the risk of a blackout, XM asks to work at home, turn off the lights at night and relax the rules imposed on Hidroituango
A package of 13 recommendations was made by XM to the National Government in the face of the growing demand for energy and the low volume of reservoirs.
Given the 8.31% growth in energy demand in Colombia, and the decrease in the volume of reservoirs, which reached 31.86%, registering values lower than the historical minimums of the last 20 years, XM, operator of the National Interconnected System (SIN), made an urgent call to the National Government to take urgent measures in order to avoid a blackout in the country.
And, according to the entity, some of the country’s main reservoirs are beginning to register historic lows, such as El Peñol with 35.93%; El Quimbo with 19.45%, Riogrande 2 with 7.37%, and Guavio with 5.8%.
Related: Drought has Antioquia reservoirs below 42%
In this sense, and given the persistence of low water contributions and the increase in demand, XM was emphatic about the need to manage the implementation in the sector “as soon as possible” of the following transitional measures.
The first of them is to implement measures to reduce demand, such as savings campaigns, which include intensifying work at home (saving lighting and air conditioning). And in cases where it is not possible, turn off lighting at night.
Another of them is to reduce energy exports to Ecuador. “This measure will reduce the number of operating hours of thermal plants and delay their release for maintenance, as well as efficient use of scarce primary sources to meet national demand,” said XM.
Also, he said, a thermal generation goal must be defined , which must be above 110GWh-day, and the greatest amount of gas possible must be made available to the thermal generating park.
Another recommendation is the management and monitoring of hydraulic plants, the evolution of reservoirs, as well as the lifting of restrictions and management of reservoirs.
“Those plants with great regulation capacity should be contributing the maximum amount of energy possible to the system. In thermal plants, monitoring availability, maintenance and fuel management and logistics. In solar plants, providing the maximum amount of energy possible to the system,” indicated XM.
The entity considers it necessary to carry out negotiations with the National Environmental License Authority (Anla) and the Ministry of the Environment to temporarily relax the rules imposed on Hidroituango and other plants in the system in a way that allows generation to be dispatched where the system requires it due to power requirements. .
Likewise, it calls for guaranteeing the free mobility of people, supplies and equipment, as well as free access to the facilities of the electrical sector (substations and power plants), to those for the production and transportation of primary energy.
“It is important to note that these measures are required to manage the operational risks derived from the current energy condition, therefore, they do not cover extreme situations or low probability and high impact events that may affect the operation of the SIN. Due to the current conditions, of deficit contributions and high electricity demand, it is necessary to adopt immediate measures that allow the efficient use of the useful reserves of the reservoirs of the generation plants dispatched centrally in the system,» the entity stated in the letter.
Alejandra Zapata Quinchía – elcolombiano.com
