Mexico earthquake hits power network

Power outages have been reported across central Mexico in the aftermath of a powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake centred on the state of Morelos in the early afternoon of 19 September.

The country’s power market operator CENACE issued a state of alert for the national SIN power grid at 1:15 p.m. local time in Mexico City for the central and eastern regions in the aftermath of the earthquake.

The market operate also recorded an immediate drop in demand across the network, principally in these regions which cover the Mexico City capital region as well as the states of Mexico, Michoacan, Morelos and Puebla.

Total SIN demand dropped from 39GWh at 1:00 p.m. to 36GWh by 2:00 p.m. Mexico City time. SIN demand bottomed out around 35.5GWh an hour later before returning to 36.6GWh by 4:00 p.m. This was still 3GWh below CENACE’s predicted level for that time of day.

Initial estimates posted on the official Twitter feed of state power utility CFE reported 3.8m households were without power following the earthquake. Over 2m of these users were located in the Valle de Mexico region which includes Mexico City, with a further 1m impacted in Puebla state.

A total of 800,000 clients were without power in Morelos and Oaxaca states.

Damage to the country’s natural gas infrastructure also could not be confirmed in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake. Several roads in central Mexico City were however closed due to a gas leaks reported in distribution networks.

The head office of state oil company Pemex was evacuated and remained shut through 19 September. Market sources said that work in CENACE’s central office had also been suspended.

Requests for official comment from CFE, CENACE, Pemex and CENAGAS were not returned prior to publication. james.fowler@icis.com