Affordable Power Remains Rural Electrification Challenge

For Fireburn Village, the wait for electricity is almost over. Government says the northern Belize community is now set to become the latest milestone in its rural electrification program, with an off-grid solar system installed by Solar Energy Solutions Belize Ltd. ready to be switched on. And while Fireburn is the last village in the north seeking access to power, attention is now turning south, where eight communities are still waiting. Minister of Public Utilities and Energy Michel Chebat says the challenge has been keeping electricity affordable while expanding access, but he says real progress is being made.

 

Michel Chebat, Minister of Public Utilities and Energy 

“The challenge is always the price because for us, our target is to be able to lower the cost of energy and so that meeting the price point, meeting the correct price point has been one of the challenges. We have a lot of interesting going on. You know, we are currently working on some microgrids in the southern part of the country. As you know, we had about eight villages out there that do not yet have electricity. We’re working on those. We’re hoping in September we’re gonna be inaugurating some. I can share with you that in the northern districts we have almost completed. We have one village left, Fireburn, to electrify and that is on its way. We’ve just signed off on that and once that is done then I think we can safely say that in the north, at least the villages who want electricity will now have electricity. And so that’s a great accomplishment for us.”

 

These smaller, localized power networks are designed to operate independently or alongside the main grid, ensuring consistent electricity even in hard-to-reach locations.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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