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With a
price tag of between thirty-five and forty million U.S. dollars, the
Chalillo hydroelectric project is perhaps the largest private
undertaking in Belize's history. Today that facility was officially
commissioned in a ceremony at the site, which straddles the Macal River
and connects the Mountain Pine Ridge and Chiquibul Forest Reserves. And
while the completion of Chalillo may ultimately be viewed as a triumph
of foresight and common sense, today's good cheer was tempered by the
reality that despite hydropower, oil remains the major ingredient in
Belize's energy mix... and that spells trouble for consumers. News
Five's Stewart Krohn reports.
Stewart Krohn, Reporting
It all seems so easy today, but in May of 2003 when ground was broken
on the Chalillo hydroelectric project, not everyone could envision the
completion of a one hundred and fifty foot high dam holding back a newly
created lake full of water. The controversy surrounding the endeavour
produced the most bitter environmental debate in the nation's history
and delayed the production of electricity from this plant almost two
years. But for Stan Marshall, C.E.O. of Fortis, B.E.L.’s majority owner,
the focus was on the future.
Stan Marshall, C.E.O., Fortis
”The official commissioning of the Chalillo project represents a quantum
leap on the road to energy self-reliance. With the Chalillo reservoir
already over fifty percent full, the country could sustain itself for an
extended period if the connection to Mexico were disrupted. The Chalillo
dam now makes it possible for Belize to meet its full energy demand, at
least for the short term, using generation available in country at least
to the level of sixty-three megawatts.”
With demand for energy increasing over seven percent each year, the
doubling of Belize's hydro generation from eighty to one hundred and
sixty gigawatt hours per year will not begin to fully solve the nation's
energy problems...but it will help, particularly since the creation of
this reservoir will allow the electric utility to release water during
hours of peak demand when the price of buying power from Mexico is at
its highest. In the middle of the night, when Mexican power is only
pennies per kilowatt hour, the turbines at Chalillo and downstream at
Mollejon can rest while river water builds up behind the dam.
And while the basic science and economics seem pretty elementary, in
today's climate of seventy dollars per barrel oil, the project's logic
underwent some heavy challenges from environmental activists both local
and foreign who took to the streets and the courts in support of their
ultimately unsuccessful cause.
For utilities minister Ralph Fonseca, Chalillo's prime proponent in
government, that opposition to the dam came with a heavy cost for the
nation.
Ralph Fonseca, Min. of Public Utilities
”What I hope is as I’ve said in my speech that they’ve learnt something
from this. They are now having the people of Belize suffer greatly
because of this single agenda that they had, which as I said, we believe
was externally funded, had nothing to do with the well-being of Belize.
We hope that they have learnt a lesson and that if they go through some
sort further protest action that they can live with their conscience.”
But if Minister Fonseca thought that costs of delaying the Chalillo
project were heavy, Belize Electricity Limited C.E.O. Lynn Young went
one step further and dropped a bombshell that not even the joy of
Chalillo could defuse.
Lynn Young, C.E.O., Belize Electricity Limited
”What has been happening with oil prices has just been killing our
company and for the last year or so we have had to borrow from Fortis
and just about anybody who’d lend us money to meet our monthly bills. So
my regret is that this didn’t happen two years ago because as I stand
here now we are talking about asking the government for another rate
increase.”
Did he say, "Another rate increase"?
Lynn Young
”We’ve been looking at it from every angle and as the oil prices rose to
seventy-five dollars a barrel, Mexican rates also increased
significantly. We’ve also gotten notice from them that we’ll have like a
sixty percent increase in rates from Mexico next year. I’ve always said
that Chalillo might not lower rates but it will help to keep things in
check. But if oil prices go through the roof all bets are off... and
that’s what is happening.”
Young's wish will not become reality without approval from the Public
Utilities Commission... and that fight will be long and tough. But for
now, with every turn of the turbines at Chalillo and Mollejon, the cost
of our electricity will be that much cheaper than it would have been
relying on petroleum. And for that small blessing at least our children,
grandchildren, and their children may yet owe Chalillo a word of thanks.
Stewart Krohn for News Five.
Adding a welcome note of levity to today's ceremony was the presence of
former Prime Minister George Price, who after being forced to endure his
least favourite version of the national anthem, regaled the audience
with the origins of the names of our two hydroelectric facilities. Both
locations on the Macal River, he explained, were former camps used by
the men who collected and processed chicle. Chalillo is the Spanish word
for shawl, while Mollejon means grindstone. The exact reasons for giving
those particular names to the camps, however, have died with the old
chicleros.
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