Baja California Sur is being hit by blackouts again as the electrical grid struggles to supply the state with electricity.

Neighborhoods in La Paz started to report power outages around 4:00pm on Monday. At the same time, the National Energy Control Center (Cenace) declared that the state’s grid was operating in a state of emergency, which would lead to continued blackouts.

An emergency is declared when an electrical system has an operating reserve of less than 4%.

It was the third time in 15 days that such an emergency declaration has been made.

Governor Carlos Mendoza Davis said the blackouts will continue until the problem is addressed, and asked the federal government to do so with the the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and the Energy Secretariat.

“This is not going to get better; I worry that we are reaching the limits,” he said. “The solution could be underwater cables, but that’s not an immediate solution. Another solution to the blackouts could be to expand our production of electricity, which isn’t a good solution because we’d be producing very expensive electricity, and burning fuels with high levels of contamination.”

Mendoza said that although an underwater cable would take time to construct, it “would pay for itself.”

He also noted that Baja California Sur is not connected to the CFE’s National Interconnected System.

Source: Milenio (sp), BCS Noticias (sp)