BEL Blames Nationwide Blackout on Mexico Power Loss

Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) says a nationwide power outage Tuesday evening was triggered by a sudden loss of power from Mexico’s grid, compounded by a shortage in local generating capacity.

BEL experienced an unplanned system collapse at 7:28pm following a temporary loss of power from Mexico’s Comisión Federal de Electricidad, tied to issues on the Mexican power system. At the time, available in-country generation stood at roughly 103 megawatts, while evening peak demand reached 122 megawatts, a shortage of approximately 19 megawatts.

The sudden loss of supply triggered BEL’s grid protection system, which shed load across various parts of the national grid to restore balance, causing outages in multiple service areas countrywide. Power from CFE was restored at 10:54pm.

BEL says local generation remains constrained by seasonal and maintenance-related factors, with some renewable sources unavailable due to seasonal conditions and other generating units offline for maintenance or running at reduced capacity.

The company says it continues monitoring generation levels and grid conditions. Meanwhile, the company has released a temporary load shedding schedule for parts of the country.