CFE Generator Noise Hits 103.7 Decibels, Rattling Isla Mujeres Neighbors and Vacation Rentals

Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo — Specialists from Mexico’s state electricity company have confirmed what residents living beside its mobile generator plant have complained about for years: the unit produces noise levels of up to 103.7 decibels, loud enough to pose a health risk.

Technicians from the CFE (Federal Electricity Commission) carried out the measurement over the weekend after neighbors requested it, and the results have revived a stalled effort to reduce the noise or move the equipment altogether.

The generator was brought in from the interior of the country to shore up supply during the rolling blackouts that hit the island destination in the summer of 2019. Its constant roar soon became a nuisance for guests and staff at roughly 20 vacation rental properties located within 100 meters of the site.

No official position from the CFE

The CFE did not issue a formal statement after the inspection. Sources inside the company confirmed, however, that the complaint was raised internally and that the sound levels represent a health risk for cleaning staff and visitors, who often ask to be moved to another property once the generator starts up.

The reading was taken less than 15 meters from the unit, from the edge of the perimeter ring road in front of the old airstrip, where the plant has stood since August 2019. One of the people involved in the review, identified as José, said prolonged exposure to that intensity could endanger health, with the actual risk depending on how long and how often people are exposed and what hearing protection they use.

The World Health Organization and the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have both warned about the effects of sustained exposure to high noise levels. Determining a safe amount of time near roughly 104 decibels requires technical criteria and the use of hearing protection.

A relocation promised in 2022 never happened

During the winter of 2022, company executives agreed to move the equipment to the south of Isla Mujeres, behind the Aguakan wastewater treatment plant. The plan called for preparing the site so the generator could run there in the summer of that year, but it was never carried out. According to the information available, the Quintana Roo government land earmarked for the project had previously been sold by former governor Roberto Borge, who is serving a sentence at his home for corruption offenses.

For its first three years the unit ran more than 30 days a year. Use has fallen since the CFE’s new submarine power line came online in 2023, but staff are still exposed to the noise for several hours at a time, along with emissions from the thousands of liters of diesel burned during each operating period, which sometimes runs more than six continuous hours.

Affected residents, who live across the airstrip near the Rueda Medina Sur waterfront promenade, want the generator moved to the south of the old facility and fitted with sound insulation. They say the changes would ease the disruption for local families and prevent harm to students at the Colegio de Bachilleres campus and the Benito Juárez secondary school.