The government advanced US$14.8 million to the Cogentrix power plant in San Pedro de Macoris so that the facility may be activated to fill the void left by AES Andres that goes offline tonight. Since the start of this government administration, Cogentrix has already received payments of US$19.4 million, signifying a total of US$34.2 million. Engineer Francisco Mendez, the current superintendent of power, regretted that AES Andres would have to remove its 255 megawatts of capacity from the national grid for lack of resources to stock its fuel. Mendez said that the Smith Enron power plant in Puerto Plata is also shut down for a lack of resources. He expected a US$5-million payment on behalf of the CDEEE to be made to that company to resolve the situation.
As reported in El Caribe, Bengoa said that so far this year the Fernandez government has paid US$63.8 million to the power generation companies to improve service.
Hoy newspaper reports that supply stood at 1,254 megawatts yesterday, while there is a demand of 1,700 megawatts.