Fortis Belize Opens Doors: Inside Look at the Dams Powering 40% of the Nation’s Energy Needs

Fortis Belize, owners and operators of the Chalillo, Mollejon and Vaca dams have made the news cycles several times this year for the crucial role they play in hydroelectricity.  With the problems that the country has faced in energy supply, all eyes were on these dams and their water levels in the event, Mexico’s supply would have continued fluctuating.  Yesterday, the organization hosted several media houses for a tour of the facilities in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve.  Reporter Vejea Alvarez along with cameraman, Kajughn Guy, took part in the tour and got to see firsthand the operations of the dams, including the Chalillo Dam which provided up to forty percent of Belize’s energy demand.  Here is Vejea’s report on the tour.

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: Have you ever wondered where most of the in-country generated power comes from? Well, it comes from hydroelectricity, which is created using hydroelectric dams like this one, managed by Fortis Belize. On Thursday Fortis Belize gave a glimpse into how it generates 100% renewable energy from Mother Nature. Each day, water from Macal River powers turbines at the Mollejon, Chalio and Vaca hydroelectric facilities, providing up to 40% of power to the Belize Electricity Limited. Chief Executive Officer for Fortis Belize, Kay Menzies, says the company felt it was important to show how it works to keep the country’s lights on. 

Kay Menzies, CEO, Fortis Belize: “I think it’s important for the public to see what’s happening, how energy comes down to everybody’s house as it were. We have, as I was saying to somebody earlier, a fair amount of industrial activity in Belize that people don’t get to see and hear about. And it’s important especially if you look at high school kids trying to figure out where they’re going to go into education, what fields of education and so on. These facilities allow for opportunities in terms of a space that’s very much in the early stages and that’s renewable energy, very exciting, lots of innovation, lots of early adoption going on.”

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: The Challio dam uses kinetic energy of the river to rotate turbines which then generates electricity. Tedford Pate, operations manager, says the process is completely renewable and crucial for reducing the country’s carbon footprint. 

Tedford Pate, Operations Manager, Fortis Belize: “While there may be 60% more of power sources being from a renewable source like hydro is outstanding for not only Belize but for the region itself. And so we could pride ourselves in being committed to that source and looking forward to the future, increasing that portfolio in adding solar to our portfolio as well in adding to that renewable source.”

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: The company boasts 100% Belizean staff, stacked with young professionals like Suzette Correa. She spoke about the gratification that comes from knowing her work is pivotal to the country’s energy needs. 

Suzette Correa, Operations and Maintenance Department: “A lot of responsibilities because you know that people are depending on the unit to start because we offer, we send water to Mollejon. So let’s say if Mollejon doesn’t have enough water they can’t produce because we are, we’re like, we reserve the water and we send it when they need. Even though we produce a low amount of energy, well, compared to Mollejon.”

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: While the company relies on rainfall to fill its reservoir Pate says climate change has impacted the company’s operations this year. He explained that Fortis hopes to integrate solar power into its energy mix to boost energy generation capacity and provide even more stability to the national grid. 

Tedford Pate, Operations Manager, Fortis Belize: “Take for example we have 7 megawatts of power available through hydro here at this location but during the dry season that limits us and it throttles us down to sometimes maybe 1.5 to 2 megawatts at a time in extreme dry situation as we experienced this year. What if we were to add seven or eight megawatts of solar during the dry season when you have no rainfall, you have the best sunlight and you could maintain a constant supply of additional energy from this location to the grid. That would be, you know, basically maximizing the natural resource that we have.”

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: While Belize is already a shining example of renewable energy use in the region, Menzies believes Fortis can increase the country’s reliance on green energy if its solar farm project is approved.

Kay Menzies, CEO, Fortis Belize: “We’ve done the first version of the EIA. NEAC has now come back with questions. We’re preparing what we need to prepare and it’s really up to somewhere between BEL and the regulator as to how they want to go next. For us, we’re just standing by and saying, listen, we’re ready. We can assist in this way. We can do actually much more than that, but let’s at least try that out. And if anybody’s ready, there we are.”

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: Apart from monitoring the health of the river and working to protect habitats near its facilities, Menzies added that Fortis Belize also contributes towards the country’s achieving its sustainable development goals. 

Kay Menzies, CEO, Fortis Belize: “We have team members working with the government on the SDG goals and we tie in with a couple of them giving opportunities as well as the environmental side. And one of the things for us is yes, every megawatt that comes out of here is avoided emissions from somewhere else if you think either it’s Mexico or it’s, Mexico is a mix but a lot of the time it’s fossil fuel generation, the two gas turbines, the other opportunities. So this is what we call avoided emissions every time you generate from us. The solar would be the same thing, so it would allow us to, Belize would be able to show even more emissions avoided once we pull the data together.”

Vejea Alvarez, Love News