Friday, August 29, 2025

Power outages affect 21 states in Mexico

As extremely hot weather affects much of the country, many Mexicans were left without electricity on Tuesday afternoon and night.

Power outages were reported in 21 states, while the National Energy Control Center (Cenace) declared a state of emergency in Mexico’s electricity system on two occasions.

Cenace said in a statement on Tuesday night that Mexico’s electricity generation capacity was affected from 4:05 p.m. Mexico City time when a power plant in Tamaulipas “went out of service.”

Several other power plants in various parts of the country subsequently went offline and solar and wind power generation dropped, Cenace said.

Mexico’s energy control center didn’t say that the mass power outage was related to increased electricity demand generated by the current heat wave.

In fact, it didn’t specify a reason for the interruptions at the power plants but did say that solar generation decreased due to cloudy conditions in the Bajío region.

However, energy expert Arturo Carranza noted that increased electricity demand due to high temperatures in some parts of Mexico “causes stress” to the national system.

“To achieve conditions of reliability and safety in operations, Cenace declares these states of emergencies, which are accompanied by other actions [including programmed outages] to reduce the stress,” he said.

An “operational state of emergency in the interconnected national system” was declared at 5:04 p.m. Mexico City and lasted 48 minutes. The system needs electricity reserves of at least 6% to operate normally, but they had dropped below 3% when the emergency was declared.

A second state of emergency was declared at 7:10 p.m due to an increase in “night demand” for electricity as well as generation problems at several power plants.

Cenace said that rolling blackouts were required to “maintain safety and reliability” in the electricity system after each of the emergency declarations.

“At 20:10 the reconnection of affected electricity supply began,” Cenace said, adding that it was expected to conclude at 11 p.m.

Blackouts were reported in Mexico City, México state, Morelos, Campeche, Coahuila, Colima, Oaxaca, Puebla, Hidalgo, Chiapas, Jalisco, Quintana Roo, Yucatán, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, Veracruz, Tamaulipas and Tabasco.

Neither Cenace nor the Federal Electricity Commission specified the number of people who lost power on Tuesday.

Among the municipalities affected by power outages were San Miguel de Allende in Guanajuato, Toluca in México state, Reynosa in Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosí, the capital of the state of the same name.

Much of Mexico will continue to swelter on Wednesday. The National Meteorological Service is forecasting temperatures above 45 C in 11 states and temperatures of 40-45 C in an additional 11.

With reports from Reforma, El Financiero, N+ and El Economista 

14 COMMENTS

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
bundled up people

Tired of the heat? The first cold front of the season is on its way

0
The northeastern part of the country will probably be experiencing a late-summer cold snap, but much of the rest of the country can expect heat and rain.
Sheinbaum and Brazil Vice President Geraldo Alckmin sit at a long table with bureaucrats in front of Mexican and Brazilian flags

Mexico and Brazil’s big trade summit yields small deals as allies pull the Latin American giants in separate directions

0
U.S. tariffs are reshaping Mexico's relationship with Brazil. But despite a desire to strengthen ties, Mexico remains firmly in camp USMCA while Brazil answers to Mercosur.
A California red-legged frog

With help from Mexico, this rare frog is making a comeback in California 

2
The endangered California red-legged frog was on its last legs in Southern California until Mexican biologists joined what became a cross-border rehabilitation effort.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity