Venezuelan minister of electricity, Luis Motta Domínguez. Photo: Aporrea.
Hey! Remember all those electricity shortages in Venezuela which the opposition (and clueless Yanks and other media hacks) like to blame on the Bolivarian government? Well, all that is about to change, and it will give the escualidos one less thing to whine about. First off, the country is finally getting some much-needed rains (and some unwelcome flooding in many parts). But more importantly, the country is shifting its means of electricity production to sources other than the traditional hydroelectric power produced by the great Guri dam. And this diversification effort has just paid off, according to the nation’s minister for electrical energy:
The Minister of Electrical Energy, Luis Motta Domínguez, informed that it had rained in the Guri sector of Bolívar state, home of the Simón Bolívar hydroelectric plant which provides the majority of the electricity of Venezuela.
He also indicated, on his Twitter account, that “Unit 6 of the thermoelectric Planta Centro generating station, located in the Juan José Mora municipality of Carabobo state, has come on line, and will provide 600 megawatts to the national electrical system.”
“Compatriots! I inform you today that TG.6 of the Planta Centro has entered into service for the first time today, and will generate 600 MW (thermoelectric),” Domínguez tweeted.
Domínguez, who is also president of the National Electrical Corporation (Corpoelec), emphasized that this plant is part of the thermoelectric system which the Bolivarian government has placed in service throughout the nation in order to strengthen the capacity for energy generation.
“With the new generator (one of the most modern in Latin America), thermoelectric generation could reach 7,600 MW. A historic record!” wrote Domínguez in another message.
In 2010, the government initiated the process to increase the generating capacity of the Planta Centro complex via the installation of this new 600-MW plant.
Unit 6, which runs on gas, was built following a co-operation agreement between the government of Venezuela and the China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), and its ultimate goal is to maintain tension levels for the use of energy generated at Caroní, in order to facilitate exportation from the centre to the west of the land.
The government has been working to increase thermoelectric generating capacity in the face of the low levels of hydroelectric reservoirs, which produce 62% of Venezuela’s electricity — a consequence of the lack of precipitation brought on by the climatological phenomenon known as El Niño.
Translation mine.
Of course, the oppos being the kind of fascists they are, they’ll probably reach for another weapon in their dirty arsenal — sabotage — as they have done many times in the past. They’ve done everything from deliberately causing blackouts to torching Corpoelec trucks to deliberately wasting electricity. But the fact that the Bolivarian federal government is still standing in spite of all their underhanded efforts, and hasn’t been washed away by the supposed oppo landslide in the parliamentary elections either, remains an inconvenient fact. As does the fact that the Bolivarians are the only ones actually doing anything positive about electricity shortages in Venezuela. And also the fact that no matter what the oppos blame the PSUV for, El Niño is one thing that’s beyond everyone’s control.