Argentina’s Demand For Electricity Up Sharply In November

BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)–Demand for electricity rose sharply in November as higher temperatures led more people and companies to turn on their air conditioners.

Demand rose 7.5% from the previous year, according to the latest report from energy-development think tank Fundelec.

That puts demand up 5.6% for the first 11 months of the year, Fundelec said Wednesday.

In November, consumption totaled about 9,498 Gigawatt hours, compared with 8,834.6 GWh a year earlier.

Demand was up almost 5% from October, when it was 9,053.7 GWh.

The average temperature last month was 22.6 Celsius, compared with 20.9C in November 2011.

Thermo-generated power accounted for about 61% of the energy generated last month. Hydroelectric power represented 36.4% and nuclear energy totaled 2.3%. Imported energy totaled 0.1% of Argentina’s energy supply.

Alternative-energy sources such as wind and solar accounted for 0.01% of output.

-By Taos Turner, Dow Jones Newswires; 5411-4103-6728; taos.turner@dowjones.com

Source: http://online.wsj.com