Chinese engineering firm China Machinery Engineering is preparing to partially restart operations at Venezuela’s large Planta Centro thermal power plant, which has been idle for years.
This will be an important step towards overcoming the country’s deep crisis in its power system, Bloomberg reports.
As early as next month, specialists plan to bring online a 600-megawatt fuel-oil-fired generating unit. The Chinese company is carrying out the work under a contract signed back in the days of President Hugo Chávez.
Restarting the country’s largest thermal power plant will help reduce the number of system-wide power cuts, which have become significantly more frequent since the June earthquakes. At the same time, the involvement of a Beijing-based company indicates that China is maintaining its influence in Venezuela despite the US administration’s attempts to limit its presence in the region.
Venezuela’s power grid has for years suffered from chronic underinvestment and a lack of proper maintenance, a situation worsened by US sanctions. Mass blackouts are fuelling rising social tensions: in September alone, human rights defenders recorded 531 protests over power problems, more than 20 times last year’s figure.
On paper, the country has around 37,000 megawatts of generation capacity, most of it from hydroelectric and thermal power plants. In practice, however, most stations are in critical condition, and their parts are often taken to repair other equipment. The only city where electricity supply remains relatively stable is the capital, Caracas.
Reliable power is crucial for the oil industry, which underpins the country’s economy. To keep operations running without interruption, some foreign oil companies have also been forced to repair the power infrastructure around their facilities themselves.
- In September, it emerged that the US oil company North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) will take control of a number of oilfields in Venezuela that were previously managed by Chinese companies and a Russian entity. This will take place as part of a major deal on Venezuelan oil production announced by US President Donald Trump.