Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said Friday that the country’s electricity generation capacity doubled between 1999 and 2011.
At a cabinet meeting at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Chávez presented figures on the advancements of the national strategic electricity plan and highlighted inauguration of a thermoelectric plant in the city of Guarenas, located 33 miles away from the capital in the populous state of Miranda.
The Venezuelan president recalled that from 1988 to 1998, only 3,095 megawatts were added to the national electric grid, while in the last decade “we have incorporated 6,461 megawatts. More than double,” he said.
Under the development model promoted by previous governments, he said, “Venezuela would be turned off. We would be using candles and kerosene lamps.”
New Thermoelectric Plant Boosts Energy Independence for Caracas
At the opening of a thermoelectric plant last Friday in Guarenas, the President of Venezuela’s National Electric Corporation (Corpoelec), Argenis Chávez, said the facility will generate electricity for the Caracas Metropolitan Area and offset energy dependence on the Guayana region in southwestern Venezuela, the source of most of the country’s electricity.
“This plant is comprised of four speed-answer generation units, which means that they can synchronize with the national electric grid in about 10 minutes,” he said.
Meanwhile, the “El Sitio Plant” is also underway in Los Valles del Tuy in northern Venezuela, with a generation capacity of 80,000 megawatts, he said.
Venezuela also has the “La Raiza Plant,” which will generate 440 megawatts and has begun its first phase with three 50-megawatt units.
Additionally, the country has a middle-capacity power generation complex, a plant that produces 136 megawatts, as well as the La Mariposa Plant and the José María España Plant, with 450 megawatts.
The Josefa Juaquina Sanchez Bastidas complex has four 340-megawatt power barges to “cover the current demand of the Caracas Metropolitan Area, which has an average consumption of 2,200 megawatts. The current generation capacity is 760 megawatts, which means that there is a deficit of about 440 megawatts,” he said.
The president of Corpoelec announced that, by August, 300 megawatts will be incorporated to cover the demand of the Caracas Metropolitan Area and prevent electricity dependence on the country’s southern region.
Presidential Press Office / Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / July 2, 2012
