Santo Domingo.-Dominican private capital has flexed its muscles and has produced a series of alliances to embark on the largest electricity generation project in history, thus surpassing the state-owned Punta Catalina, although the initial investment figures are significantly lower.
The Government announced yesterday the results of the tender for 800 megawatts of natural gas (Punta Catalina was 760 megawatts of coal) that were awarded to two groups that will be in charge of installing 400 megawatts each and with a global investment estimated at 1,700 millions of dollars.
President Abinader symbolically touches the button that starts operations at the park.
In this case, the companies will be the owners of the project, responsible for the investment, financing and operation of the gas plants, while the Government will provide the land.
The electricity distribution companies will sign a purchase guarantee contract for the energy produced.
The announcement was made in an act at the National Palace with the presence of President Luis Abinader. The project is structured in two blocks that are responsible for, the first, the construction of a 400 megawatt plant and a natural gas terminal, and the other only the construction of a 400 MW plant. The project will be built in Manzanillo on land that will be ceded by the Dominican State.
The investors
The first 400-megawatt block and the natural gas terminal have Haina Investment Corporation (HIC), a private partner of the State in the capitalized Haina Generation Company (EgeHaina), as the leading investor. The company name HIC has as its main shareholder the INICIA group (Vicini family) and for the new project it has associated itself with the company Enerla, in which the González family, of the Cuesta Nacional Group (CCN), has been grouped. The international corporation Shell Gas, a derivative of Shell Company that for years was a partner of the Dominican State in the Dominican Petroleum Refinery, also entered as partners in this project.
Second block
The other block for the construction of 400 megawatts, also of natural gas, is in charge of the Costal Petroleum consortium, whose main shareholders are Arturo Santana and the Martí family (whose main executive is Carlos José Martí).
President Abinader stated that this tender is part of a program launched to install 2,000 new megawatts with which to meet the growth in demand in the future as a result of the natural growth of the economy and its consequent energy needs.
He explained that in this scheme the State will not spend a peso, since the private consortiums that win the tender will carry out the construction with their own capital and the government, through the distribution companies and under contract, will buy the energy produced by the plants.
The model that was applied for the construction of the Punta Catalina thermal power plant implied that the State made the investment, which was initially set at 1,950 million dollars, but ended up in at least 2,350 million dollars.
The head of state highlighted that another of the positive aspects of the works in Manzanillo is that the energy offered in block 1 is 8.84 cents of a dollar per KWh and in block 2 of 5.82 cents of a dollar, values which, he affirmed, they are smaller than those sold by Punta Catalina.
“Using the competitive bidding method, the country will be able to build its largest power plant, 800 megawatts, a gas terminal and with a much lower investment than the more than three billion consumed in Punta Catalina by a smaller plant that already has of the nation’s budget and debts,” he said.
He stressed that this tender was only the first, because at the end of 2021 another 400-megawatt tender was launched to be installed between June and October 2022.
Works in Manzanillo
The Manzanillo electricity project includes a natural gas unloading, storage and distribution terminal that are part of the development plan for that town that is currently being executed.
He understands that the Manzanillo tender is an example in the Dominican electricity sector in terms of forecasting, transparency and planning.
He indicated that this experience will have repercussions not only in the electrical field, but also in the international community of investors and financing.
The president affirmed that the tenders guarantee the capacity to supply the maximum annual demand and maintain a cold reserve of at least 15% of the maximum demand.
Bidding
The coordinator of the bidding Oversight Committee, Franklin Báez Brugal, attested that the process was carried out with total transparency and that the members of the bidding committee and the experts who worked on it did so with total neatness.
Minister Almonte explained that 16 consortia presented interest, of which 13 were authorized to make technical proposals, three made the economic offer and the two cheapest were selected.
Process
16 bidders.
They submitted to the bidding process, but only three were prequalified and two finished.
El Soco Photovoltaic Park begins operation
Energy. President Luis Abinader stated that no government had designed and launched a strategy to build power plants that would provide the system with sufficient capacity to meet demand and maintain a large reserve in case of any sudden outage of one or two plants undergoing maintenance or repair.
Leading the inauguration of the El Soco Photovoltaic Park, in Consuelo, San Pedro de Macorís, which with its entry into operation will inject 130 million kWh per year, the president assured that since the beginning of his administration he has marked a clear roadmap, with a well laid out path and a consigned budget to strengthen the expansion in generation and transmission of electricity.
Bid
He highlighted that his government began the bidding, contracting and construction of new thermal generation projects, renewable generation, construction of transmission lines and substations.
“In conventional thermal generation, my government launched an international public tender in February 2021 to install an 800 MW plant and a natural gas unloading and storage terminal in Manzanillo, Montecristi; another 400 MW emergency tender was launched in December 2021,” he reported.
