About electricity in the DR

Rick Snyder

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Nov 19, 2003
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Of the Dominican electric grid?s 49 power plants it is reported that they have the ability to produce about 3,225 megawatts of power. My research has come up with the following generating plants and the capability of power generation where noted. If there is no noted capability it is because I couldn?t find that information. The largest capability plants are listed first.

Monte Rio:
Azua:
Itabo I: 90 megawatts
Cogentrix I:
Cogentrix II:
Generadora Haina: (Made up of 11 power plants.)
Sultana del Este: 150 megawatts
Itabo II: 124 megawatts
Falcondo I: 62 megawatts
Falcondo II: 62 megawatts
Falcondo III: 62 megawatts
Smith-Enron, in Puerto Plata:
Pimentel: 45 megawatts
Metaldom: 31 megawatts
Cogentrix III:
Palamara La Vega: 102 megawatts
Estrella Marina: 58 megawatts
Estrella del Norte: 32 megawatts
Puerto Plata Electrical Company Unit I: 24 megawatts
Puerto Plata Electrical Company Unit II: 37 megawatts
AES-Andr?s: 229 megawatts
Haina I: 45 megawatts
Haina II: 45 megawatts
Haina IV: 63 megawatts
Barahona Coal:
Barahona Turbog?s:
San Pedro Steam: 33 megawatts
San Pedro Turbog?s:
Higuamo I: 34 megawatts
Higuamo II: 34 megawatts
Itabo III:
Itabo Turbog?s I: 34 megawatts
Itabo Turbog?s II: 34 megawatts
Itabo Turbog?s III: 34 megawatts
Maxon company has 10 plants which haven?t operated in a long time: 27 megawatts

Articles I?ve found as they relate to electricity in this country prior to 1989 and other sources. Here is a proposed 100 megawatts from wind. Here is an interesting article about building small sustainable hydro plants. Now here is a very interesting pdf report that starts on page 33. In it it states that the DR has the potential to generate an additional 500 megawatts from hydroelectric plants and up to 30,000 megawatts from wind.

It is stated that there are 35 hydroelectric plants in the DR that together generate 400 megawatts
My research has come up with the following plants;
Jimenoa hydroelectric plant ? 7 megawatts ? presently non-functional due to clogged intake.

These three plants were in the news back in 2005 as proposed construction. I have no idea as to what their present circumstances are.
hidroel?ctrico Palomino -??- Started in Mar 2005? ? 98 megawatts
Pinalito in Constanza ? 50 megawatts
de las Placetas 80 megawatts

Earlier Uni?n Fenosa was discussed and their tie-in to the Dominican electrical system. I found that Uni?n Fenosa entered Nicaragua in 1987-1988 to do a kind of consultancy for ENEL on its information systems and the kind of software needed to modernize them. After selling and installing new systems, Uni?n Fenosa left Nicaragua with all the information it needed about their system. In 1998, National Assembly legislators of all political stripes, including both Liberals and Sandinistas, voted to reform the Energy Law in such a way as to favor the privatization of distribution. The law was supposedly designed with this in mind. In 2000, the service was put up for public tender and the only company to bid was Uni?n Fenosa. The process should therefore have been declared null and void, but instead Uni?n Fenosa was declared the winner. The illusion was created that there were really two companies, Disnorte and Dissur, so it wouldn?t appear to be a monopoly. ENEL had previously established the two companies for supposedly this reason, and Uni?n Fenosa subsequently ?bought? both of them.

The state ?sold? the most profitable part of the national energy sector to Uni?n Fenosa for just $115 million, including the whole electricity grid and all of its assets. The operation was carried out by President Enrique Bola?os, who was both president of ENEL and vice president in the Alem?n government at the time. Bola?os acted as Uni?n Fenosa?s sponsor ever since the company entered Nicaragua. In fact, one of his first missions on becoming President was to travel to Spain to negotiate with the company. He told them that in just a few months he would ?support? them by increasing electricity prices, which he indeed authorized this after six months. The Network made a legal appeal, because establishing electricity prices is the legal responsibility of ENEL, not the President. They spent nine months in a trial and in the end they won. So what did Bola?os do? He ordered his then finance minister and presidential aspirant, Eduardo Montealegre, to transfer $12 million of public resources to Uni?n Fenosa as a subsidy, without National Assembly authorization. But the Assembly didn?t challenge him, and the transfer went through. This money was given to Uni?n Fenosa as part of the proposed sale of Hidrogesa, behind which was the group headed by Ernesto Fern?ndez Hollman, partner of La Prensa, Banco Uno and Coastal Power, and very close to Bola?os. So many groups are related to the energy sector with their own vested interests that you never know what to expect next.

Any of this sound familiar in any way to anything you have seen or read????

Anyway, I hope some of you have found this informative and or helpful.

Rick
 

appleman

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Dec 18, 2003
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Las Terrenas Power Plant

Rick,

We just got back from LT where we toured the power plant in Las Terrenas. It is privately owned and we talked to one of the owners who showed us around. I don't have his card handy and can't remember his last name, but his first name was Dr. Oswaldo.

He stated that he is generating 6 mega watts at LT. and has lines running to el Limon. They also have a plant in or near Las Galeras which generates for that area, and are planning to generate power from wind turbines near the coast south of LG.

He also stated that because they must use oil/fuel they have seen their costs rise tenfold in recent years. They are charging around $.33 (USD) per kilowatt hr. It seemed to me that the DR is ripe for Wind, water, and even ocean current or wave power generation.
 

Rick Snyder

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Nov 19, 2003
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Thank you for that information Appleman as I wasn?t aware of those plants. If you would be so kind I would like to know the proper names of those two IPP?s if you are able to acquire them.

What I find interesting is the fact that there are presently 49 plants that can supply 3,3225 megawatts for a national demand of about 1,800 megawatts and at any given time no more then 33% of those 49 plants are operating and only produce about 1,100 megawatts if the people are lucky. The excuse for this is usually "lack of fuel".

The DR has the capability to produce 400+ megawatts from their hydroelectric plants which require no external fuel source but those 400+ megawatts are never met due to not all plants are always operating. Added to that is the capability to add an additional 500+ megawatts to that which they have. Presently it is estimated that 12% of the electricity supplied in the DR is through hydroelectric means but if the other plants could be built and they would supply 500 megawatts of power then the combined capability of hydroelectric would increase to 900 megawatts which is 50% of the daily demand. A person would think that the savings acquired through not having to purchase and use petroleum products as fuel would trigger a positive move in the development of these other hydroelectric plants. Can you visualize the capability to produce 30,000 megawatts through wind powered plants? That?s 16 times more power then the DR uses daily and at no cost for fuel!

Think about that for a minute.

Rick
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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There is a company named Santiago Electric something or other that has or had a bunch of 1 and 1.5 megawatt diesel units that it moved around the country. Maybe they are the ones in Pimentel...I think I saw them the last time I went by there...I hear that they also have some units up Monte Cristi way.

Regarding the hydro units, I have written about them, but it was some time ago.

All of the major hydro units are way undere capacity due to maintenence problems. At various times government spokesperson have said that the CDEEE has refitted them but that is pure BS. I did learn that a major piece of equipment was being installed at Angostura: and 80,000 pound valve(??) something massive like that.

I thoroughly agree with Rick that there are solutions to the problems..\\

By the way, I don't think I saw mention of the GESA operation out in Bavaro??? I think it is about 25 megawatts....Same people as on Mallorca...

HB

Los Mina Natural gas????
 

leromero

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May 30, 2004
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The only way to make it happen Rick is by private funds. The government is niether able or willing to invest in anything like this since there is no kickback for them. Even if there were private companies willing to make the necessary investments they could not sell the generated power to the general population. The theft of the service would crash the system if done in a piece meal basis. Until the government actually starts caring for the population and not lining their pockets we will never see the potential that the DR has to offer become reality.
 

appleman

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Dec 18, 2003
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Power plant name

I wasn?t aware of those plants. If you would be so kind I would like to know the proper names of those two IPP?s if you are able to acquire them.

Rick,

I think it is only one company operating at two locations due to the distance they would have to run wire and poles if they just operated from one location. The name of the company is:

Compania de Luz y Fuerza de Las Terrenas, C. por A.

They also had some signage with G.E.S. on it which I think stands for Generacion Electrico de Samana (pardon my Spanish, but that should be close).

The part owner and vice president is Dr. Oswaldo Orsini Bosch.
 

Rick Snyder

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Nov 19, 2003
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A continuation to inform

When talking about electrical generation and distribution here in the DR I think it?s important to understand some, if not all, of the players in the game. AES is one of those players and I wish to enlighten you a little on where they fit into the game of ?electricity in the DR?.

Per DR1 news for 6 Feb 08 ( AES Dominicana sues government).

AES is a corporation that entails approximately 36.4 gigawatts of generating capacity from 107 power plants in 20 countries.

In 2003, AES introduced natural gas to the DR when they began operation of AES Andres, a combined 319 MW gas-fired plant and LNG regasification terminal. AES Los Mina, a 236 MW generation plant that AES converted to gas-fired operations in 2003.

AES?s subsidiary in Chile, AES Gener, owns a generation company in the Dominican Republic, Itabo (Itabo, Santo Domingo, Timbeque, Los Mina and Higuamo.) , which includes five thermoelectric generation facilities totaling 432 MW. AES also operates and manages, on a contract basis, EDE Este, a regional distribution company located in Santo Domingo.

According to their Form 10K for 2005 stated;

?Revenue - We achieved record revenues in 2005 of $11.1 billion, an increase of 17% from $9.5 billion last year. Favorable foreign currency trends and higher prices led the increase.

Gross margin - Gross margin increased 14% to $3.2 billion, driven by the higher revenues.?

38% of their revenue is derived from Latin America (Page 80).


DR Related pages 10, 13, 59, 60, 62, 122, 135, 136, 149, 150,155, and 157.

Selected financial data on page 64.

Hope this helps in explaining what is involved here.

Rick
 

Rick Snyder

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Nov 19, 2003
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According to this article it looks like the electricity distributor EDE Este closed out the year very well on the collections of monies owed by their clients. Think maybe the price might drop????????????????? Hehehe

Here in the eastern portion of the country, specifically here in El Seybo, I must say that a day with an interruption in electrical service is a rarity.

Rick

Edited to add;

But it looks like things aren't going well up North.
 
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Oct 29, 2006
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I hope, since Donald Trump has announced his participation in the Cap Cana project, maybe this could be a terrific opportunity for the island's electrical problem. Knowing his big ego, this could be a good incentive for "The Donald" to prove that he can perform better than the government and tackle the energy challenge. Who knows?
 

A.Hidalgo

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Apr 28, 2006
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The Donald is going to make sure his resort has the generators it needs and thats it. He may have an ego but is not stupid enough to try and tackle one of the most intractable problems this island has.
 

djlawlaw

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Jul 6, 2006
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It is rather exciting news that he is coming to the island. But, to tackle our electricity problem would lead him into bankruptcy.
 

senorblanco

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Jun 11, 2006
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Does anyone have a startup date for the new 24 power to be supplied to Cabarete. I have seen the posts being put up and there is a buzz about it happening soon. Is there a date set or a goal date that anyone can verify?
Thanks, I pay a damn fortune for gasoil!
 

Rick Snyder

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Nov 19, 2003
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Senorblanco,

If this is an important question to you then I would suggest that you start a thread in the 'Living' forum and ask there. I only say this as there is a lot more of an opportunity of someone that has the answer of reading the question so placed.

Rick

But then again it may get answered here.
 

A.Hidalgo

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