{"id":50368059,"date":"2023-05-04T23:34:45","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T22:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.dialogochino.net\/?p=368059"},"modified":"2023-11-09T17:59:52","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T17:59:52","slug":"368059-peru-drought-shows-fragility-of-energy-sector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/368059-peru-drought-shows-fragility-of-energy-sector\/","title":{"rendered":"Intense droughts show fragility of Peru\u2019s energy sector"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Crops have dried up in the Puno region of southern Peru. \u201cIt\u2019s only just starting to rain,\u201d says Ja\u00e9n Ca\u00f1azaca, a farmer and administrator for Cecovasa, a cooperative for coffee growers in the province of Sandia. It is the end of March and the country is several months into its worst drought in 58 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe lack of rain has already affected the quality of our coffee beans, making them so small that they look like wheat,\u201d says Ca\u00f1azaca, who also grows potatoes and quinoa, crops common to this high Andean region. The farmer estimates that the drought of the last five months could ruin more than 16,000 hectares of crops in Puno, where there was a 70% rainfall deficit<\/a> in March, making it the worst-hit month of the emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such dry spells are no longer isolated incidents. Peru has suffered at least 10 episodes of severe drought between 1981 and 2018, reports Senamhi<\/a>, the country\u2019s meteorological service. According to the World Meteorological Organization<\/a>, 2022\u201323 was the third consecutive summer that Peru has faced such water stress, driven by a rare \u201ctriple-dip\u201d La Ni\u00f1a weather pattern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to their impact on crops, these droughts have also set alarm bells ringing over their impact on power generation in Peru, with just under half of the national electricity supply dependent on hydroelectric plants. In recent months, Peruvians have begun to feel the consequences of this high dependence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Costly dependence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In periods of drought, some of the more than 200 hydroelectric plants in Peru have failed to produce enough energy to meet national demand. \u201cDuring this drought we have even suffered power cuts, which normally do not happen in Puno,\u201d says Ca\u00f1azaca, referring to shortages in November last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When hydroelectric plants do not generate enough, the country resorts to natural gas and, frequently, burning diesel as an alternative, a costly and polluting source. In the current drought, hydroelectric generation fell by as much as 29% in December 2022, compared to the previous December, while natural gas thermal plants increased output by 76% and diesel plants by 208%, according to data from the country\u2019s Ministry of Energy and Mines<\/a> (Minem).<\/p>\n\n\n\n