The Dominican Public Electricity Corporation (CDEEE) has announced it has secured financing for the coal-fired 752-megawatt plants it is backing in Punta Catalina, in the southwestern province of Peravia (Bani).
Meanwhile, during the American Chamber of Commerce luncheon yesterday, Wednesday 4 February 2015, energy expert Jose Luis Cordeiro described the announced US$2 billion investment in the plants as “a historic error.” He said that the coal-fired plants are dated 20 years back in history, and that the country should be focusing on using renewable energy sources.
“This is a historic error for the new generation, for the old generation that is still living,” he said. He added that “if the DR has free sunlight, then why pay to import coal and old energy technology?”
He called on the country to “open its eyes” because it could become independent and even an exporter of energy because of its geographic position where wind and sun are in abundance. He said the DR could become “the Saudi Arabia of solar power.”
Cordeiro pointed out that in the United States coal-fired plants are no longer being considered. “Coal is not being used, there is no new generation in the United States,” he told his audience of business leaders.
He predicted that solar energy generation would be cheaper than oil in the future.
Yesterday, Wednesday 4 February 2015 the CDEEE announced that SACE, an Italian bank, would lend US$650 million and the Brazilian bank BNS another US$550 million. The credit was signed and approved on 30 December 2014. Congress needs to approve the loans. The government had already assigned US$600 million to the construction in the 2015 National Budget. The plants, which are estimated to cost US$1.94 billion, are scheduled to enter into operation in October 2017. The works will be carried out by Odebrecht, the Italian company Tecnimont SA and Ingenieria Estrella SRL.
Speaking during the luncheon, the president of the American Chamber of Commerce, Maximo Vidal said that the Electricity Pact should aim to prepare the country for an energy system that is both sustainable and efficient, from a technical as well as financial point of view, in generation, transmission, distribution and marketing.