The government is on alert for the electrical system in the face of the first heat wave of the year

The ‘friendly’ summer in terms of temperatures could end in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA) this week, when expected. Gradual riseThe hottest day will be Thursday, with maximum temperatures reaching 37 degrees. In this panoramic picture, questions arise about the state of the world Electrical system. The government warned a few months ago that there may be scheduled and voluntary cuts in large industries.

“We have nothing left. We will manage the situation based on what we have.”Official sources said that they are continuously monitoring the situation with electricity distributors. Edinor and Edisorin charge of service at AMBA. “If there are reductions, hopefully they will be subtle and short-lived.“They added.

Due to the lack of investment over the past twenty years, the electrical system suffers from severe fragility at its three service levels. In terms of generation, there are still old machines that are more than 60 years old, inefficient and expensive..

In transportation, the lack of expansion of power lines has led to the emergence of a bottleneck This prevents investment in new generation sources, such as wind and solar power plants.

In distribution service, the system exhibits failures ranging from lack of modernization in electrical substations to perhaps simple problems, such as lack of installation Smart metersbut this would allow the creation of Differential rates for demand management At peak consumption.

It has become common for businesses to have backup generators in case of a power outage.Gonzalo Collini – Nación

To mitigate this lack of investment, the government has designed a contingency plan for the critical months that includes short-, medium- and long-term measures. Among the measures implemented are: A Incentives and rewards program for using old generation equipmentso that it is available if necessary. Another program has also been launched for large energy users (not including SMEs or households), who can reduce demand on a voluntary, scheduled and paid basis.

“It’s a very transparent mechanism The large user makes the decision whether or not to reduce his demand if he has compensation that suits him economically.. In the past it was used Phone call (during Cristina Kirchner’s government), and it doesn’t matter if you are a large or medium-sized customer. They told you 15 minutes ago that they were cutting off your service and didn’t give you anything in return. Here there is a transparent system where the final decision lies with the user.

Until now there has been no need to schedule scheduled cuts in industries, however This procedure can be implemented on Thursdaywhen the temperature reaches 37 degrees after four consecutive days of very hot weather. “If necessary, it will be implemented. Every day has thermal inertia“A 37-degree day after a 28-degree day is not as if we are coming off several hot days,” they point out.

A strong storm over Atuel Canyon, in Mendoza, took two hydroelectric plants of the Los Niueles system out of service; There is 220 MW less available in the systemWikipedia/cc

The heat wave comes next Two hydroelectric power plants in Los Niueles, in Mendoza, went out of operationThis comes after a weekend storm that caused the level of the Atwell River to rise by six meters and flooded control centers at the stations. This means that there will be About 220 MW less megawatts are available.

The good news is that energy imports from Brazil are continuing without problems, as is power generation from the Yacerita Dam, after there were concerns in the middle of last year about a drought that affected the level of available water.

Rain is expected on Friday in the AMBA region, which will bring temperatures down. Although a memory New Year, when the storm left nearly 100,000 users without power in the cityThey say in the government that this problem was a specific issue. It was because Lack of palm tree maintenance On the land of the Central Puerto generator, which led to tree leaves flying due to the storm, and the Edinor power substation was affected and put out of service.

The government is preparing a series of measures to improve the electrical system in the future. In the last week of February, public hearings will be held to discuss the new law Five-year tariff reviews (RQT) For transportation and distribution. The idea is to determine the level of investments companies should make in the next five years to improve service quality, and in turn, the automatic rate adjustment formula will be designed so that the mechanism becomes predictable and no longer discretionary. . It remains to be determined whether future increases will be monthly, semi-monthly, or quarterly. for now, The new pricing schedules will be ready for implementation starting in April.

Likewise, the Ministry of Energy will also carry out a series of tenders seeking to strengthen the system so that next summer does not pose a problem. The goal is to expand the capacity of electricity storage, generation and transmission To avoid dependence on external factors, such as temperature and water level in dams.

First, the government will issue a tender for installation The storage centers have available power of up to 400 MW In AMBA. These works can be in operation for between 12 and 18 months, which is why Energía is an alternative to improve the available electrical capacity in the short term, while expanding the thermal generation park.

for later, The General Secretariat is issuing a tender aimed at adding electricity generation to vital nodes And expansion Installation of high voltage transmission linesUnder the scheme, the company will be responsible for obtaining financing to build and operate the lines.

“The electricity sector is on the verge of collapse due to 20 years of loss of capitalization and lack of investment. When we took over, users were paying, on average, only 29% of the real cost of energy. In order to maintain these unrealistic rates, the state spent nearly 150 thousand million dollars on indiscriminate subsidies, generating more emissions and increasing inflation. The delay in investments has left the system fragile 40% of facilities are at the end of their useful life The government said the transport network grew by just 0.8% annually, compared to a 2% increase in residential demand.

according to Standards

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