[ELUNIVERSAL] Power rationing is not new for Venezuelans. Over the past fifteen years there have been some crises, such as that of 2009-2010, that have forced Venezuelans to adapt their lifestyle to power outages. What is new, however, is the seriousness of the current situation which, according to some experts, is expected to get worse over the next two months if the necessary measures are not taken immediately.
To major general Luis Alfredo Motta DomÃnguez, the Minister of Electricity and President of the National Electricity Corporation (Corpoelec) - a state-owned holding company created in 2007 to consolidate the power sector - the current crisis is a one-off problem due to the extensive drought associated with the recurring weather phenomenon commonly known as El Niño, which has caused water levels in the Central Hidroeléctrica Simón BolÃvar (aka the Guri Dam) to drop to record-low levels.
It is worth noting that that the Guri Dam (with an installed capacity of 10,000 MW), located in Bolivar state, is the largest reservoir in Venezuela. Some 60% of all electrical power generated in Venezuela originates in the Guri dam and the other hydroelectric plants built across the Lower Caronà River, namely: Caruachi (2,200 MW) and Macagua (2,200 MW).
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