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Isla Mujeres mayor-elect meets with CFE to discuss ongoing blackout issue

Isla Mujeres, Q.R. — After another blackout, Isla Mujeres mayor-elect Atenea Gómez Ricalde, met with CFE officials to better understand the situation. Gómez Ricalde met with executives of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) to discuss the continual fails of the submarine line and possible relocation of the current power plant that is currently located on the airstrip.

For months, numerous residential areas have experienced power blackouts that last from an hour or two, to more than two days. While the problem is not a new one, it is having an enormous effect on island residents during the summer’s scorching temperatures.

Gómez Ricalde said that her meeting with CFE was due to a demand of islanders who want to know the real status of the submarine line that powers the island from mainland sources.

Miguel Ángel Bastarrachera Chan, CFE’s Regional Manager for Peninsular Thermoelectric Generation, explained that on two occasions public tenders were launched for substitution work on the submarine line, and in both cases, the call was declared void.

Despite this, they hope to launch a third call this month that will advance the process for the new line that supplies energy to the entire island.

Bastarrachera Chan acknowledged that the replacement process would take at least five years. He explained that once a company was awarded the tender, they would then have to begin the construction and testing of the new submarine cable before its subsequent installation.

During her meeting with CFE, Gómez Ricalde also addressed the noise concern of those who live within the vicinity of the mobile power plant. CFE has said they will work on installing a quieter plant located near the Solid Waste Transfer Unit south of Isla Mujeres.