Uruguay registered a historical maximum of daily electric energy demand on Tuesday in the middle of a heat wave in the South American country, surpassing the previous record of last February 14, informed today the state-owned Administración Nacional de Usinas y Transmisiones Eléctricas (UTE).
The state-owned company told the press that demand was 43,337 megawatt-hours (MWh) daily with temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius and maximums of up to 36, surpassing last month’s record of 42,827 MWh.
On Tuesday, peak power demand was 2,213 megawatts (MW) at 14:33 local time, which did not exceed the all-time high reported on December 9, 2022, at 2,242 MW.
Electricity demand is driven during the summer in the southern hemisphere by air conditioning equipment in homes and offices.
From last Friday until Tuesday of this week, the Uruguayan Institute of Meteorology (Inumet) issued a heat wave warning for almost the entire country, with minimum temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius and maximum temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius.
The atypical high temperatures recorded in the country a few days before the beginning of the southern autumn will begin to moderate from Wednesday after the rains forecast by Inumet.
Since the end of last year, Uruguay has been facing the worst drought in decades, which has caused heavy losses to productive sectors.