Venezuela in the crisis: shortened working hours against impending power outages

Venezuela in the crisis: shortened working hours against impending power outages

The Venezuelan government has taken measures to save electricity due to the critical drought conditions. From Monday, March 24, 2025, the working week in the public service will be shortened to three half days, and the daily layers will be reduced to four and a half hours in the morning. These measures aim to compensate for the dramatically sunken water level in the Andean reservoirs, which strongly endangers the generation of electricity.

Most of the electricity in Venezuela is produced by hydropower plants. The government attributes the low level to higher temperatures and the effects of climate change. In the past 15 years, electricity rationing has become common practice in several states. This has been in the context of more often longer power failures since 2019, which the government often attribute to sabotage.

The role of climate change

The problem to hydropower in Venezuela is not only to be viewed locally. According to dw , hydropower is globally responsible for around 70% of the electricity from renewable energies and makes up more than 15% of the worldwide power supply. Germany has learned from nature that climate change leads to drought in many regions, which contains the water reserves.

in similar countries as Malawi, where 98% of the generation of electricity is dependent on hydropower, frequent power outages are the order of the day. The example of California shows that after several years of drought, more expensive and environmentally harmful gas energy had to be used to cover the energy requirement. Politics must therefore consider alternative energy sources in order to increase the efficiency and safety of the power supply.

long -term perspectives and solutions

In response to the crisis situation that is intensified, it is discussed whether Venezuela should reduce the dependence on hydropower. Sustainable energy supply remains crucial in order to be stable even in times of climate changes. In Brazil and other countries, both the development of new dams and improvement of existing systems are considered to meet the challenges of climate change.

The Venezolan government hopes for a significant saving of electricity with the new working time regulations. However, this short -term measure could not be sufficient in the long term to overcome the complex challenges in the energy sector. The need for a healthy mix of different energy sources is therefore becoming increasingly clear.

future strategies must aim to reduce dependence on a single form of energy and to develop flexible, sustainable alternatives. This is the only way to ensure the stability of the power supply in Venezuela and in many other regions affected by water.