A third of the power plants of the state-owned CFE have already exceeded their useful life, according to the latest document from the Superior Audit of the Federation (ASF). Of the 153 plants owned by the CFE in commercial operation, 59 (equivalent to 38.6%) have already exceeded the operating time for which they were designed. The Audit information takes into account information up to 2020.
The average age of the state-owned plants is 42.6 years. There are some, like the company’s thermoelectric plants, that have already significantly exceeded the time for which they were designed. Three of these plants have already been used for 50 years, when their useful life is 30 years.
By exceeding the time for which they were designed, the components of the plants degrade and this causes a decrease in their efficiency, an increase in the use of fuels and an increase in their failures and therefore in their availability. “[The age of the plants] had an impact on the degradation of components and obsolescence of systems, the main causes of failures and decreases in generating units, especially in conventional steam, combined cycle and turbo gas processes,” says the document published on Sunday. past.
Generation IV is the subsidiary with the largest number of power plants that have already exceeded their time of use. Of the company’s 25 assets that operated during 2020, 16 were already out of their useful life, all thermoelectric or turbo gas plants.
The 2013 energy reform included a retirement plan for the old CFE plants. The plants resulting from the long-term auctions would have the purpose of substituting the energy generated by these assets, which generally work with fossil fuels. decided not to include the withdrawal of any of its plants in its programs.
A previous planning contemplated the withdrawal of 115 plants owned by the state company, between 2018 and 2023. That is, with this, around 70% of the current plants that the CFE has would be removed from dispatch.
And the CFE affiliates that add the oldest power plants coincide with those that report higher generation prices, according to the ASF analysis.
CFE Generación IV, indicated as the subsidiary that has the largest number of plants that have exceeded their useful life, reports a cost of 1.63 pesos per kilowatt-hour. CFE Generation III groups 38 plants, 16 have already exceeded their life cycle and report the second highest cost of electricity production, of 1.49 pesos per kilowatt-hour.
“It is important to mention that keeping units operating that are very old has repercussions on energy generation costs, since they have lower thermal efficiency and require a greater allocation of resources for maintenance, which has repercussions on higher variable costs of operation, start-up , as well as production”, says the Audit in the document.
The CFE’s average cost of electricity production is 1.40 pesos per kilowatt-hour. In perspective, the plants of external power producers is 0.76 kilowatt-hours. These last plants, whose administration is concentrated in CFE Generation V, is 12.8 and are only wind and combined cycle plants.
The national electricity company has remained firm regarding its decision that its plants continue to operate so as not to lose market share in electricity generation. One of the main points of the reform is based on guaranteeing the dispatch of the assets of the state company,
