The use of dirty fuels for electricity generation in the country’s thermal power plants was high at the beginning of the year and continued with a trend that was marked since the end of 2020. During the first two months of this year the burning of fuel oil in the plants was the highest in five yearsfor the marked period.
As published by the Wholesale Electricity Market Administration Company (Cammesa) in the last monthly report, the use of fuel oil for generation was 208,000 tonsin the accumulated of the first two-month period of the year.
According to a survey carried out Power On on Cammesa documents from previous years, this is the highest level since the first two months of 2017. At the beginning of the year 342,000 tons of fuel oil were burned.
- 208.000
- ton of fuel oil were used in thermal power plants during the first two months of the year.
In the same analysis period of 2022, 167,000 tons had been used in the plants and it was the highest record since that year, but official data confirms that the upward trend that began in the last months of 2020 continues.
While using dirty fuels like liquids or coal has a higher carbon footprint than gasthe main problem that it generates for the country is not precisely the emissionsbut what crispy dollars are spent to buy them.
- 20%
- of the dirty fuels used in thermal power plants are liquids and coal.
This type of fuel represents almost 20% of what thermal power plants use to operate, while 80% is gas. However, they do represent a red for the State costs, since for local gas you pay regarding 3.6 dollars per million BTU, while the average of imported fuels is around 21 dollars per million BTU.
The main obstacle today is that there are not enough transportation networks to take the gas produced in the basins to the thermal power plants.
Diesel and coal burning is also high
Something similar to what was recorded in the thermal power plants at the beginning of the year with fuel oil, also happened with diesel. The first two months of the year closed with a total of 403,000 cubic meters of diesel used in thermal power plants as fuel.
Despite the fact that it is a lower level than that seen in the first two months of 2022 (491,000 m3), discounting last year, is the highest for a beginning of the year since 2013. It is worth noting that Cammesa’s records go back to 2013.
- 403.000
- cubic meters of diesel were used in the country’s plants between January and February of this year.
Without going furtherlast year closed with a total of 2,432,000 cubic meters of diesel burned in the plants. The only year that ended with a higher balance was, once more, 2013 (2,595,000 m3).
Another dirty fuel that is used in the plants is coal and this first two-month period closed with a level of 156,000 tons burned. Just 3,000 tons less than in the same period last year.
The expectation of the sector for March (data that will be known in April) is that the third month of the year also ends with a high level of consumption of liquid fuels in thermal power plants. This month there was a record demand that was offset by more liquids in the plants and higher imports of electricity, mainly from Brazil.
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