The executive vice president of the Dominican Public Electricity Corporation (CDEEE), Ruben Jimenez Bichara has guaranteed that the closing down of the AES Dominicana generators for routine large-scale maintenance up to 17 February will not disrupt the electricity supply.
Jimenez Bichara said that the system is using other generators to supply the 319 megawatts that AES Dominicana usually provides.
He did say, however, that AES plants use natural gas, which is the cheapest fuel available, and the plants that will temporarily replace it would be using fossil fuel, which is more expensive.
He highlighted that yesterday morning, Tuesday 27 January 2015, the system was meeting 88% of the demand that was no worse than the average and that if needed other generators could be used to supply more.
He concluded by saying that the electricity sector had benefitted from the decreased cost of fuel and if it continues in the same way they would save around US$500 million in the year, which would reduce the state subsidy to a more comfortable level.
CDEEE afirma salida unidades AES Dominicana no afectará suministro de energía