|
Venezuela Electricity
In 1990 Venezuela boasted significant electricity
production
and even greater potential. Besides its plentiful reserves
of
coal, oil, and gas, Venezuela's cascading rivers provided
a
hydroelectric potential in excess of 60,000 megawatts
(MW), only
a small fraction of which had been tapped. The country's
total
installed capacity in electricity multiplied more than ten
times
in the thirty-year period from 1960 to 1990, jumping from
1,350
MW hours to over 18,000 MW hours. Actual electricity
generation
paralleled that trend over the same time period, spiraling
to
more than 52 million MW hours. During the same time
period, the
percentage of electric power attributed to
hydroelectricity rose
to about 50 percent by 1990. Thermal-based electricity
declined
accordingly.
The national power network encompassed both public and
private utilities under the regulation of the Ministry of
Energy
and Mines. Four major public-sector utilities supplied
over twothirds of the country's electric power, while seven
private firms
provided the remainder. Until the 1986 opening of the
massive
Guri hydroelectricity facility, the National Electricity
Company
(Compañía Anónima de Administración y Fomento
Eléctrico--CADAFE)
accounted for over 90 percent of the electric power
generated by
the public sector. CADAFE increased public access to
electricity
from roughly 30 percent in 1960 to an estimated 92 percent
by
1990. The Guri hydroelectric plant, with over 10,000 MW of
installed capacity (the world's fourth largest capacity),
became
the nation's largest single source of electricity upon its
completion in 1986. The Guri Dam, located on the Río
Caroní,
saved the country the equivalent of 300,000 barrels of oil
a
year.
Venezuela consumed more electricity than any other
country in
Spanish-speaking Latin America. Industry consumed 53
percent of
all electricity in 1988, followed by private residences
(22
percent), commercial entities (13 percent), and federal
and local
governments (12 percent). Electric rates were highly
subsidized
until 1989 when the government's structural adjustment
policies
triggered rate increases of 30 to 65 percent, depending on
usage.
The government's plans for the 1990s focused on
expanding
hydroelectricity output near Ciudad Guayana and
reorganizing
utilities along more efficient and decentralized lines.
The
Venezuelan Corporation of Guayana (Corporación Venezolana
de
Guayana--CVG) oversaw the 360-MW Macagua I plant on the
Río
Caroní and planned to operate Macagua II, also on the Río
Caroní,
which was slated to provide an additional 2,500 MW by the
early
to mid-1990s. In addition, preliminary engineering work on
complexes at Caruachi and Tocoma began in 1989; the CVG
hoped to
further harness the power of the Río Caroní to produce
2,500 MW
from each of these facilities. The abundant and cheap
supplies of
hydroelectricity near Ciudad Guayana represented a
significant
advantage for Venezuelan heavy industries relative to
other South
American nations.
Despite these advantages, ambitious long-range
expansion
plans were hampered by the rigid bureaucracy and
centralization
of CADAFE. By some estimates, the company wasted nearly 40
percent of its generated power through deficient
maintenance,
frequent power failures, and theft.
Data as of December 1990
|
