The President’s Government Luis Abinader started in Manzanillo its most ambitious project to increase the energy supply of the Dominican Republic. A megaproject which revolves around the installation of three electric generators that will contribute 1,254 megawatts of energy to the Dominican system when they are completed by the year 2026.
consortia Manzanillo Gas & Power and Manzanillo Energy began construction of two natural gas-fired power generation plants near the port of Manzanilloin Montecristi, which will provide 840 megawatts (MW), while the Energía 2000 consortium started another plant that will generate up to 414 MW.
During his weekend visit to this border province, President Luis Abinader gave the first shot to the three works that will add 1,254 MW to the national electrical system, with a private investment of 2,335 million dollars.
The two plants in the port of Manzanillo they will be ready in 42 months to sell energy to distribution companies at a price between 6 and 9 cents per kilowatt-hour (k/h).
This price will help transmission companies mitigate their energy purchase overrun and can transfer this to the final consumer’s bill, explains Edward Veras, director of the National Energy Commission. The savings will be significant if one takes into account that “right now the average energy purchase prices are around 17 cents per kilowatt hour.”
2,335
Millions of dollars will be the total investment of the project that is being developed in the Manzanillo area
Two blocks
The project is made up of two blocks. The first consists of a gas terminal and a 420 megawatt (MW) combined cycle gas turbine plant and was awarded to Manzanillo Gas & Power, a consortium made up of Haina Investment Company (HIC), Shell Gas & Power Development (Shell) and Energía de las Américas (ENERLA).
The second block will install a 420 MW combined cycle gas turbine plant, granted to Manzanillo Energy, made up of the companies Coastal Dominicana, Manzanillo Energy and Lindsayca.
In this megaproject the Dominican State promoted the development plan, the legal process and the land, while it is carried out with private investment. Which means that the capital will not be disbursed from the national accounts.
The two plants will exceed the production of Punta Catalina, whose maximum is 720 MW, and entails an investment of 1,750 million dollars.
Edward Veras defined the project as the great masterpiece of a national electrical system in which the current demand is around 3,000 MW. “Note that Catalina, which is a large project, the turbines are 376 MW. The plants that are going to be built here are going to be 420 MW each,” he said.
Luis Mejía Brache, representative of Manzanillo Gas and Power explained that his consortium won the tender to install a terminal that will transport gas from ships, onshore storage, a regasification unit and a 420 MW net plant.
This terminal will serve as an inlet for natural gas to the country that will supply other plants and the industry.
The construction, and the entire process to obtain the permits and licenses, will take about 42 months, that is, they are projected to be ready for March or April of the year 2026.
“”We are going to have the main generation project in the country.””President of the Dominican Republic
Contract
For Edward Veras, director of the National Energy Commission, the first advantage of this work is that the Government will not have to contribute money.
The Dominican State has a 15-year power purchase contract so that the two plants can be financed. Veras is certain that the recent increase in the price of natural gas will not increase the cost of electricity. “Once the supplies to Europe are regularized and there are enough commercial lines to take gas to Europe, the market will return to stability,” he analyzed.
Manzanillo has a contract that presents prices for 2027 and “that is contemplated among all the risks,” according to Veras.
The energy produced in Manzanillo it will reach all the provinces of the country that are interconnected to the National System. So far, the only province that is not connected is Pedernales and the Dominican Electric Transmission Company (ETED) is already building a line to solve the problem.
there will be no surplus
Veras does not expect, however, that these two plants will reach a surplus in order to have an energy reserve, since demand continuously grows at the rate of the population and the economy. “We have found at the beginning of the Government a very narrow band between the demand and the installed generation capacity. Manzanillo It will help us open that gap a bit,” he remarked.
energy 2000
The Energía 2000 project will entail an investment of 585 million dollars and consists of a plant with a 345 kb electrical transmission line from the Pepillo Salcedo substation to the Naranjo substation.
Also, the work contemplates a gas pipeline 12 inches in diameter and 7.5 kilometers long designed to bring the natural gas received and processed in the terminal and storage and regasification unit that construction began yesterday in the port of Manzanillo. This station will use technology that allows it to run on other fuels, such as hydrogen and fuel oil.
Jaime Santana Bonetti, president of Energía 2000, indicated that the money for the work comes from the capital contribution of its partners, “as well as through local and international institutions.”
The Executive estimated that they will generate between 1,500 and 2,700 direct jobs for the area.
Without contract
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Antonio Almonte, explained that unlike the two Manzanillo, it will place its energy in the spot market (public financial market in which assets are traded instantly). “The participation of the State is through encouragement, facilitation, support, the guarantee that their capital will be respected, their rights. That they will have the benefit of the price system established by the spot market without discrimination.” The plant could come into operation before the year 2024.
master plan of Manzanillo
President Luis Abinader made several announcements regarding the progress of several of the initiatives of the complex that it is going to carry out in the port of Manzanillo.
Next to megaproject energy is added to an ambitious plan that would mark a milestone in the Montecristi province in terms of development. He reported that the tender for the expansion of the port of Manzanillo “must be awarded in April and construction begin in June 2023”, and that the Dominican Petroleum Refinery, SA (Refidomsa) purchased land adjacent to the port of Manzanillo to also have a fuel tank.
In the port there will also be import warehouses for raw materials for food production, an industrial complex and a shipyard.
On the other hand, the Master Plan for the Development of Manzanillo It implies improving the infrastructures of the province. From the presidency money has been transferred to improve the cemetery and a funeral home, and the Ministry of Tourism revamps the park of the main municipality. The Government is supporting the reconstruction of the Malecón and the first salt refinery for all producers. Abinader indicated that an agreement will be signed with the New York supermarket association, mostly Dominicans, to create a brand for export.
The land
The two power plants, the LNG tank and the regasification unit will be built on a 56.6 ha (140 acre) plot owned by the Ministry of Energy and Mines in the eastern part of the city of Manzanillo. The natural gas will be offloaded from LNG carriers moored at a specific pier 800 m (0.5 miles) north of the shoreline. The liquefied gas will flow to the storage tank through a cryogenic pipeline supported by a 1750 m (1.09 mi) long viaduct, half the distance over water and half over land or wetland.
museum opening
At the end of his Friday agenda for this province, the president Luis Abinader led the opening of the Montecristi Museum where the exhibition of 31 Dominican artists will be temporarily exhibited under the name “Montecristi: Light, Shape and Color”. This historical museum will promote artistic expression as the fundamental basis of culture. It will be a space to learn a little about Dominican history and culture, and will have a collection of more than 300 Taino objects that were saved throughout the Montecristi area. The work has been developed in a public-private partnership with the consortium Manzanillo Energy.
In addition, Abinader announced that by February or March they will deliver between 600 and 800 property titles to the inhabitants of the municipality of Manzanillo.
Agenda in Montecristi
The president inaugurated 25 linear kilometers of streets in the municipality that were paved through the Ministry of Public Works, with the application of 9,152 cubic meters of asphalt by the construction company Malespín.
The Minister of Public Works, Deligne Asunción, reported that they will also carry out the reconstruction of sidewalks and curbs with an investment of 50 million pesos. Earlier, the president attended the inauguration of the La Super 8 by Wyndham hotel in Manzanillo.
This hotel has 54 rooms, four levels, parking, swimming pool, restaurant and gym. This project is part of a total of 18 hotels that this chain has announced that it will build in different provinces of the country.
Heliport
In the same act, President Abinader inaugurated the Heliport Manzanillo Energy. Later, he delivered 42 new apartments from the Mi Vivienda plan to residents of Las Matas de Santa Cruz.
In this same demarcation, Abinader delivered the resource deposit certificates to the beneficiaries of the “Recovery of the Livelihoods of Small Pig Producers in the Dominican Republic” project, whose production was affected by the African swine flu.
