The Government has allocated nearly 700 million dollars to absorb price increases
President Luis Abinader said on Tuesday that given the rise in prices of the electricity generationthe Government has reconsidered investment strategies in the electricity sector.
“Due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, energy prices rose and the deficit between the purchase and sale of energy by distribution companies increased to unprecedented levels, which will force the government to allocate nearly 700 million additional dollars to throughout this year to absorb the rise in the price of energy”, he indicated.
During the ceremony held at the Cibao Theaterin Santiago, the head of state emphasized that to protect the services of the population they have invested in machinery and structures.
“Faced with this new reality, our government has rethought the investment strategy in distributors and will launch a purchase plan for 300,000 electric meters, as well as a large number of power and distribution transformers, as well as networks, and other equipment and accessories”, he pointed out.
Likewise, the president expressed his commitment to a greater expansion of renewable energies in different regions of the country.
“We have authorized the largest expansion of renewable energies in our history, with an increase of 692 new MW distributed in 12 projects in different regions of the country, of which some 250 MW are already in operation and the rest are estimated to be online at the end of 2023”, he reported.
In the same way, he commented that in his management contracts have been drawn up in solar electricity four times greater than those found in past governments.
“We have granted concessions and contracts for the construction of photovoltaic solar electricity facilities for a capacity four times greater than the just 162 MW found in August 2020,” he said.
Tenders
The president indicated that different tenders have been carried out for the supply of electricity.
“One of the tenders was urgent, for 400 MW that will be generating from September this year and the second is for 800 MW in Manzanillo, Montecristi and includes the construction of the first natural gas storage and distribution terminal in the northern region of the country,” said
He stated that one of the generators is in process, and this will be added when another 800 MW are completed to the network.
“In a few years the country will have 2,000 new MW of firm power apart from the MW of renewable solar, wind, biomass and hydraulic. We are on our way to becoming a true regional power in terms of modern and diversified power generation capacity,” he said.
He addressed that all these tenders and replanting will be able to generate by 2025 an offer of electricity generation that will take the sector to a cold reserve.
“For the first time in our history, we will also have an electricity generation supply by 2025 that is much higher than the maximum annual demand in order to have the so-called “cold reserve” of the system, as is the case in all countries with well-sized and safe electrical systems. That cold reserve will be close to 700 MW in principle,” he said.
