Basic Energy II

completed

Consorcio Energético Punta Cana Macao (CEPM), and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Compañía Electricidad Bayahibe (CEB), are off-grid, vertically integrated private utilities. They serve resort hotels and their surrounding communities along the eastern and south-eastern shores respectively in the Dominican Republic. The CEPM plant has an installed capacity of 75 MW and the CEB plant has an installed capacity of 13 MW, all in diesel generation. CEPM and its subsidiary CEB have thus far generated all of their electricity requirements from their own generation facilities. However, in order to meet accelerated growth in peak demand, CEPM and CEB plan to interconnect to the Sultana del Este power plant, owned by their sister company, Empresa Generadora de Electricidad Haina, S.A. (EGE Haina) to benefit from its more cost-competitive electricity. EGE Haina is the largest generator in the country, which is majority owned and controlled by the sponsors of CEPM.The proposed IFC investment, a corporate loan of $20 million to CEPM and CEB, will finance part of the construction of a 129 km overhead power transmission line with 100MW capacity, including three sub-stations. The transmission line will be off-grid and dedicated to transfer electricity from the EGE Haina’s Sultana del Este power plant in San Pedro de Macorís (a 150 MW diesel plant running on HFO) through a substation to be built by CEPM adjacent to Central Romana (a privately owned plant that provides energy to the Casa de Campo resort) to a substation to be built within the CEPM plant in Punta Cana. Total project costs are estimated at $35 million. ELECNOR of Spain will construct the transmission line, while ABB from Switzerland will be responsible for the substations. The construction period is expected to be 18 months. The Borrowers (CEPM and CEB) will purchase electricity from the EGE Haina under a power purchase agreement.The transmission line will pass through three provinces: San Pedro de Macorís, La Romana and La Altagracia. The line will have two sections:- from San Pedro de Macorís, where the 150MW Sultana power plant is located, to Central La Romana; and - from Central La Romana to the locality of Bávaro in Punta Cana, Province of Altagracia, where the CEPM plant is located. There will be three substations, one at the Sultana power plant in San Pedro de Macorís, another in the Central La Romana, and the third in the CEPM plant in Punta Cana. The transmission line will cross mostly rural areas of the eastern shore of the country. An existing 69 kV transmission line will connect the Central La Romana substation with the CEB substation in Bayahibe.