The Vice President of the Senate of the Republic, as well as members of the Treasury and Energy Commission of that body and of the Chamber of Deputiespositively valued the savings of nearly 235 million dollars that the Government has already had as a result of the conversion to natural gas of electricity generation plants that previously worked with petroleum-derived fuels very expensive, and favored the entire national electricity matrix to switch to producing with cleaner and cheaper fuels.
Senator José de Castillo Saviñón, member of the Treasury and Energy commissions of the Senate of the Republic, stated that They are savings for the national electricity system, especially now when oil prices are above 120 dollars a barrel. “We must continue promoting that conversion process that began in the last government, towards much cheaper energy sources. There is no doubt that this is what is convenient, this is what has been the global trend in order to generate savings in the National Interconnected System”.
He stated that the ideal is for the entire National Electric System to be transformed to energy generation at the cheapest systems. He indicated that there is coal, which has the problem that it is polluting, and natural gas, which is the second cheapest, and “the ideal is that this be promoted and that from the electricity sector, both the new plants that are being considered to be built, since the The Government has announced a tender for nearly 2,000 megawatts and announced a tender for Manzanillo for 2 natural gas generation plants, so they are the cheapest fuels available, in this case natural gas is a viable option, less polluting than coal and at much more affordable prices than the traditional fossil fuel, which is basically ful oil”.
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On his side, the Vice President of the Senate, Santiago José Zorrilla, expressed his opinion regarding the almost 235 million dollars that the Government has already saved and the 518.2 million dollars projected as of 2023 for the conversion of electricity generation plants. electricity that previously ran on petroleum-derived fuels.
He explained that “for our country, everything that generates savings is extremely important for us, but apart from that we are shedding oil towards natural gas, it is important because we want to get closer to what is called clean energy and much more from there to follow solar panels. , wind power, hydraulic power, everything that is clean”.
He stated that, in addition, the Dominican Republic is not an oil producer and getting rid of its dependency is vital.
He congratulated the President of the Republic for the excellent decision to continue supporting the conversion of power plants that previously operated with expensive and polluting fuels to natural gas and expressed his opinion that all the plants of the national energy park be transformed towards clean energy.
On your side, Gaddis Corporán, president of the Energy Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, considered that the matrix should be totally modified to further strengthen the Dominican generation systemaccompanied by the possibility of injecting new renewable generation sources into the system.
Questioned about what the savings mean for the conversion of the plants to natural gas, in his opinion, “we are talking that to the extent that the cost of energy is cheaper, then the pocket of Dominicans is lightened.”
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It is recalled that the economist Henry Hebrard, considered that the conversion to natural gas of electricity generation plants that previously worked with petroleum-derived fuels such as ENERGAS, Quisqueya I and Quisqueya II, have been the lifeline of the National Electric System., because they have represented a foreign exchange savings of nearly 235 million dollars for the Government. And the projected annual savings from 2023 are 518.2 million dollars for the conversion and signing of purchase and sale contracts for these units.
In addition, investments related to the promotion and conversion to natural gas in the electricity sector by the private sector represent millions of dollars. For example, the company Energía Natural Dominicana (ENADOM), has invested 100 million dollars in the Eastern Gas Pipeline and some 300 million in the storage tank. Likewise, the company ENERGAS invested 17 million dollars in the conversion of CESPM 1; 17 million dollars in CESPM 2 and the same amount in CESPM 3. And as for Quisqueya I, Barrick Gold invested 15 million dollars, while EGE Haina also invested 15 million dollars for the conversion of Quisqueya II. All this represents investments from the private sector in the order of 481 million dollars.
