Electricity sector in Venezuela
The electricity sector in Venezuela is one of the few in the world to rely primarily on hydroelectricity, which accounted for 71% in 2004.[1]
Electricity production
A gross theoretical capability of hydropower is 320 TWh per annum, of which 130 TWh per annum is considered as economically feasible.[2] In 2004, Venezuela produced 70 TWh of hydropower, which accounts 2.5% of world's total.[1] At the end of 2002, total installed hydroelectric generating capacity accounted 13.76 GW with additional 4.5 GW under construction and 7.4 GW of planned capacity.[2]
Hydroelectricity production is concentrated on the Caroní River in Guayana Region. Today it has 4 different dams. The largest hydroplant is the Guri dam with 10,200 MW of installed capacity, which makes it the third-largest hydroelectric plant in the world.[3] Other hydroelectric projects on the Caroní are Caruachi Dam, Macagua I, Macagua II and Macagua III, with a total of 15.910 MW of installed capacity in 2003. A new dams, Tocoma (2 160 MW) and Tayucay (2 450 MW), are currently under construction between Guri and Caruachi. With a projected installed capacity for the whole Hydroelectric Complex (upstream Caroni River and downstream Caroni River), between 17.250 and 20.000 MW in 2010.
Organizations
The largest power companies are state-owned CVG Electrificación del Caroní (EDELCA), a subsidiary of the mining company Corporación Venezolana de Guayana (CVG), and Compania Anonima de Administracion y Fomento Electrico (CADAFE) accounting respectively for approximately 63% and 18% of generating capacities. Other state-owned power companies are ENELBAR and ENELVEN-ENELCO (approximately 8% of capacities). In 2007, PDVSA bought 82.14% percent of Electricidad de Caracas (EDC) from AES Corporation as part of a renationalization program. Subsequently the ownership share rose to 93.62% (December 2008).[4] EDC has 11% of Venezuelan capacity, and owns the majority of conventional thermal power plants.[5][6] The rest of the power production is owned by private companies.
The national transmission system (Sistema Inrterconectado Nacional- SIN) is composed by four interconnected regional transmission systems operated by EDELCA, CADAFE, EDC and ENELVEN-ENELCO. Oficina de Operacion de Sistema Interconectados (OPSIS), jointly-owned by the four vertical integrated electric companies, operate the SIN under an RTPA regime.[5]
See also
References
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