Cost of electricity here?

The “cost” of electricity is more than the pesos or dollars we pay.

No doubt someone is wondering why you would produce more electricity than you use. I am expanding my solar array to do the same thing. Here is my motivation.

Just north of Zihuatanejo is the Petacalco thermal electric plant. Think of this as you use electricity here.

Petacalco power station

The Petacalco power station is Mexico's largest coal-fired power plant, and the third largest overall among the country's 71 power plants. Petacalco's six original 350 MW units were brought online in 1993 and 1994. In 2010 the 678 MW Pacífico expansion unit (sometimes referred to as unit 7) was added to create a seven-unit plant with a combined gross capacity of 2778 MW. The Petacalco plant generates roughly 7% of Mexico's electricity.

The Petacalco power complex has had significant negative impacts on human health, marine life, fisheries and agriculture in northwestern Guerrero state.

The Petacalco plant burns an average of 7 million tons of coal per year and has been described as one of the world's worst polluters. Its annual emissions of carbon dioxide and mercury (over 15 million tons, and 711 tons, respectively) are the highest of any power plant in Mexico.

In addition, it ranks second nationally in annual emissions of nitrous oxide (228 tons) and methane (152 tons), third in nitric oxide (over 24,000 tons), and fifth in sulfur dioxide (152 tons per year).

Air and water pollution traceable to the plant have created multiple negative impacts for surrounding communities, including depletion of fisheries, loss of mangrove habitat, and high concentrations of coal ash and other particulates that threaten residents' health.

The Petacalco power plant, together with the José López Portillo and Carbón II power stations in Coahuila state, accounts for 22% of the GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions from Mexico's electricity sector while contributing only 10% of national electricity production.

We are fortunate to be able to spend time in this lovely area. There is good reason to overproduce electricity to have the least adverse impact we can have. Hopefully any excess production that we can feed into the grid is a bit less that is produced by Petacalco.