DR government contracts GE to service new 752MW power plant

[Dolores]

The management at Punta Catalina, the newly inaugurated coal-fired 752MW power plant, signed a nine-year software service agreement with General Electric Steam Power. The power plant is providing one-third of the Dominican Republic’s total generation capacity. The deal is described as GE’s most comprehensive digital deal in Latin America with first-of-its-kind software implementation currently underway to improve performance over the plant’s lifetime.

In a press release issued in Switzerland, GE announces it is providing the Dominican Public Electricity Corporation (CDEEE) with a combined software and services package at the Central Termoeléctrica Punta Catalina (CTPC) power plant. This includes a multi-year agreement to provide maintenance and repair services for the plant’s existing steam turbine generators, combined with GE software to help CDEEE operate the plant...

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[GringoRubio]

Description if interested:
https://www.power-technology.com/projects/punta-catalina-power-project/.

I'm surprised anybody is investing in coal plants. Probably cheaper then petroleum, but I thought Solar/Wind are even less expensive than operating an existing coal plant.

 

[KyleMackey]

Description if interested:
https://www.power-technology.com/projects/punta-catalina-power-project/.

I'm surprised anybody is investing in coal plants. Probably cheaper then petroleum, but I thought Solar/Wind are even less expensive than operating an existing coal plant.

They might have looked at wind and solar. With wind you need consistent 27-55 miles per hour wind to generate max power. They would have needed to build 900 2.5 MW windmills, or 3 Billion vs. 2 Billion for Coal plant. A solar farm to produce equal megawatts to this coal plant you need about 3,000 acres minimum. Coal plant is probably 200 acres. Using US costs about 500K per MW, so that is around 1.9 Billion, close to the same as the announced 2.1 Billion coal plant cost, and could be more if more acreage is needed.

 

[El Rey de Mangu]

They might have looked at wind and solar. With wind you need consistent 27-55 miles per hour wind to generate max power. They would have needed to build 900 2.5 MW windmills, or 3 Billion vs. 2 Billion for Coal plant. A solar farm to produce equal megawatts to this coal plant you need about 3,000 acres minimum. Coal plant is probably 200 acres. Using US costs about 500K per MW, so that is around 1.9 Billion, close to the same as the announced 2.1 Billion coal plant cost, and could be more if more acreage is needed.

The wind farm would have had to be built offshore

 

[chico bill]

Description if interested:
https://www.power-technology.com/projects/punta-catalina-power-project/.

I'm surprised anybody is investing in coal plants. Probably cheaper then petroleum, but I thought Solar/Wind are even less expensive than operating an existing coal plant.

If you think you can replace Catalina with wind power be prepared to see thousands of ugly towers on every ridgeline in DR.
Travel up the Colombia gourge between Oregon and Washington states and see how truly they destroy a beautiful area.
Give me a power plant any day.

 

[jstarebel]

They might have looked at wind and solar. With wind you need consistent 27-55 miles per hour wind to generate max power. They would have needed to build 900 2.5 MW windmills, or 3 Billion vs. 2 Billion for Coal plant. A solar farm to produce equal megawatts to this coal plant you need about 3,000 acres minimum. Coal plant is probably 200 acres. Using US costs about 500K per MW, so that is around 1.9 Billion, close to the same as the announced 2.1 Billion coal plant cost, and could be more if more acreage is needed.

The stoker plants are also much less susceptible to hurricane damage than are the renewable energy plants.. Probably why they are not used too much in the Caribbean..

 

[GringoRubio]

If you think you can replace Catalina with wind power be prepared to see thousands of ugly towers on every ridgeline in DR.
Travel up the Colombia gourge between Oregon and Washington states and see how truly they destroy a beautiful area.
Give me a power plant any day.

Make them sea based although I still don't know if that's suitable. Things get very calm at night.

I would recommend using raw land for a solar farm, but there are plenty roof space available.

 

[chico bill]

Make them sea based although I still don't know if that's suitable. Things get very calm at night.

I would recommend using raw land for a solar farm, but there are plenty roof space available.

Rooftop space for a commercial solar farm? Not logical.
Sea based windmills - that would mean windmills on every beach.
For any of these projects you need a connection to the distribution grid, meaning they tend to me more concentrated to get tied to existing electric transmission lines.
For solar to replace Catalina you would probably kill hundreds of thousands of birds every month that get fried from the reflective heat. Solar panels in a hurricane would make great flying Frisbees too.

 

[GringoRubio]

Rooftop space for a commercial solar farm? Not logical.
Sea based windmills - that would mean windmills on every beach.
For any of these projects you need a connection to the distribution grid, meaning they tend to me more concentrated to get tied to existing electric transmission lines.
For solar to replace Catalina you would probably kill hundreds of thousands of birds every month that get fried from the reflective heat. Solar panels in a hurricane would make great flying Frisbees too.

You're killing me.

For solar, just democratize it for people that own houses and buildings with small solar installations. It might take some infrastructure upgrades to handle the inputs to the grid. It should be a nice investment with a decent return.

As for windmills, I remember a navy tower off my beach in Florida that was 15 miles out. I could only see it from the beach on exceptionally clear days. I didn't mean put the windmills on the beach, but offshore...

For storms, use an insurance fund. Also, solar does have a life cycle. Things have been improving so dramatically, that you want to replace them every 20 years.

Also, eventually, some genius is going to figure out that 99% of stuff runs or can run on DC current. LED lighting, Electronics, etc. DC motors do just fine. Why not wire new houses and businesses for DC? Then the solar power could be consumed directly instead of converting to AC, stepped up to transmission levels, stepping down, converting to DC. Or better, use I high Voltage DC lines that have near zero resistance.

As I'm fond of saying, "the stone age didn't end because we ran out of rocks."

 

[drstock]

Sea based windmills - that would mean windmills on every beach.

Certainly not. The UK has a lot of sea around and has one of the largest numbers of wind turbines in the world - the majority at sea, not on the beaches. It works very well.

 

[GringoRubio]

Certainly not. The UK has a lot of sea around and has one of the largest numbers of wind turbines in the world - the majority at sea, not on the beaches. It works very well.

I hear the nations around the North and Baltic seas are working on a 32 Giga Watt project based on wind and solar where they can. The size is really astounding.

 

[chico bill]

Certainly not. The UK has a lot of sea around and has one of the largest numbers of wind turbines in the world - the majority at sea, not on the beaches. It works very well.

This would be needed times 16 for the DR. Is this the view your prefer off the coasts ? And they would need to go where
1. There is constant wind
2. In shallower calmer waters
3. Near existing transmission lines

 

[GringoRubio]

This would be needed times 16 for the DR. Is this the view your prefer off the coasts ? And they would need to go where
1. There is constant wind
2. In shallower calmer waters
3. Near existing transmission linesView attachment 3079

It's academic at this point, but you just site them 20+ miles off the coast were they are rarely (if ever) visible. Anyways, I'll not argue any further on what is a hypothetical. You can find problems with anything if that is what you are looking for.

 

[bob saunders]

This would be needed times 16 for the DR. Is this the view your prefer off the coasts ? And they would need to go where
1. There is constant wind
2. In shallower calmer waters
3. Near existing transmission linesView attachment 3079

And a place to put all the failed ones.

 

[chico bill]

It's academic at this point, but you just site them 20+ miles off the coast were they are rarely (if ever) visible. Anyways, I'll not argue any further on what is a hypothetical. You can find problems with anything if that is what you are looking for.

As one who has seen the blight of windmills I think we are better off with a plant hidden away somewhere which does not pollute the one beautiful thing the Caribbean has to offer - the bright blue sea