Argentina plans to resort to scheduled power cuts to cope with electricity demand this Southern Hemisphere summer amid forecasts for high temperatures that would force customers to crank up air conditioning.
Cabinet Chief Guillermo Francos told Radio Mitre that the government is planning the cutoffs after years of neglect, which has left the grid unable to meet sudden demand peaks.
Francos said the idea was to reach agreements with industrial users, something governments have also done when there have been natural gas shortages.
A La Niña climate pattern that is forming globally would make Argentina’s summer warmer and drier than normal.
The country has had problems in recent years with unexpected summer blackouts after electricity distributors saddled by price controls struggled to pay for upkeep.
While distributors have gotten fee increases under President Javier Milei, issues remain elsewhere in the grid. In particular, Argentina doesn’t have enough high-voltage transmission lines needed to grow power generation with new plants.
This isn’t the first time the government has said it might need to turn the lights out: Energy Undersecretary Eduardo Chirillo issued a warning as far back as January, and energy and mining official Daniel González also mentioned it earlier this month.
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by Jonathan Gilbert, Bloomberg
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