The Punta Catalina Thermal Power Plant (CTPC) is the main source of electricity for Dominicans. Its two units, with a total capacity of 752 MW, can supply, at very competitive prices, between 30% and 35% of the demand for the national interconnected electricity system (SENI). On August 18, 2020, we delivered both units that were operating at full load and with the equipment in excellent condition, which led to a percentage of availability higher than 92%, which is higher than the international average for this type of power plant.
Unfortunately, President Luis Abinader made a serious mistake in appointing Antonio Almonte as head of the electricity sector because he belongs to a group whose purpose is to sell this valuable asset of the Dominican people at the price of a dead cow and thus destroy wealth. . of all Dominicans. To achieve this, a Punta Catalina destruction team was formed, led publicly by Almonte, which was dedicated to taking steps to reduce its revenue-generating capacity and increase the level of risk associated with that business. Given its history, this will not be the first time it has argued against CDEEE and the nation. PRM has more capable and experienced human resources than Mr. Almonte to lead the Ministry of Energy and Mines and to manage Punta Catalina.
In a recent article in the Listín Diario, Almonte again mentions the power of Punta Catalina. Despite the fact that the famous American multinational Babcock & Wilcox, boiler manufacturer, clarified in a letter sent on February 12, 2021 that, based on the results of performance tests performed by McHale & Associates, its equipment can generate enough steam for turbo generators. GE to produce 376 MW gross, Almonte continues to say that each unit has less power than real. The intention of this error is to destroy the value of Punta Catalina by reducing its operating capacity, benefiting those inefficient private generators that extract additional rents the higher the price of energy on the spot market. This position is detrimental to the interests of the people and the Dominican government, as technical assessments indicate that, in terms of net megawatts, which is the amount of energy sold by SENI, Unit 1 can produce 345,586 MW net and Unit 2 can produce 347,677 MW net, figures exceeding the level guaranteed by the EPC contract, which is 337.39 MW net. These results were verified by the American companies Stanley Consultants and Clean Air.
Almonte acknowledged in his article that he fired the main technicians in Punta Catalina, who were trained by the Odebrecht-Tecnimont-Estrella Consortium and equipment manufacturers (Babcock & Wilcox, General Electric and Hamon Corporation). Instead of hiring career operation and maintenance personnel with experience in power generation facilities, it has placed assembly personnel and technicians with more than 20 years outside the generation area and no knowledge of the technology that has been installed in Punta Catalina, whose merit is members or sympathizers of the PRM. The dismissal of the person responsible for the operation of the air quality control system (AQCS) allows me to predict that the system will deteriorate in the coming months due to lack of maintenance and proper operation.
In his article, Antonio Almonte also stated that “in an anthological agreement, Jaime Aristy Escuder and Rubén Bichara agreed to pay Odebrecht another $ 11 million, based on the aforementioned Annex T.” This statement is completely false.
A simple analysis of the documentation cited by Almonte reveals that it is affected by one of these options: a) severe reading deficit of the agreement; b) pathological dependence on lying; c) advanced chronic perversion syndrome; d) all of the above.
Annex T to the EPC contract, signed on 14 April 2014 and governing the relationship between CDEEE and the Punta Catalina Construction Consortium, sets out the penalties and compensation for non-compliance with the acceptance or performance tests of that installation. . In the case of net power, it is indicated that for each MW with less power reached in relation to the guarantee value offered by the Construction Consortium (ie 337.39 MW), a penalty of two million dollars would be applied.
Mr Almonte interprets the content of Annex T in reverse or intentionally interprets it, stating that the CDEEE must pay it one million dollars for each additional MW that the plant units manage to produce and therefore concludes that “if, as it is claimed that Jaime at the boiler has 376 MW gross and 347 MW net, so CDEEE had to pay Odebrecht with more than ten million extra. “This statement is totally wrong, false and malicious. CDEEE did not have to pay and did not pay another cent to the construction consortium because it reached a net power higher than the guaranteed level of the contract. This shows that Almonte is lying and slander saying that CDEEE paid another $ 11 million to Odebrecht or the Consortium, based on copy T of the EPC contract.
Despite the fact that I have all the information at hand, since I left it described in a comprehensive final report that I delivered to the new administration in Punta Catalina, Almonte omits to describe the following.
On December 19, 2019, CDEEE and the consortium agreed to present their discussions on the existing disputes, generated by the claims presented in 2017 by the consortium, to a mediation process at the ADR International Center of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in New York , as provided for in the EPC Agreement to the Parties. Through this mediation process it was possible to reduce the amount of the dispute from $ 973.2 million to $ 395.5 million, of which the government should pay only $ 59.5 million, as through the Contingent Fund it disbursed $ 336 million.
On 20 January 2020, the terms and conditions sheet for the dispute settlement agreement was signed in New York, setting out how that amount would be paid to ensure the completion and start-up of the Unit. 2. More specifically, in section 9 of that sheet, ten payment triggers were detailed, the aggregate amounts of which amounted to $ 59.5 million. These events include: Unit 2 synchronization; operation of the unit at a capacity of 200 MW or more for two hours and two mills; and operating the unit at a capacity of 376 MW or more for two hours and three mills; among others. The latter event was awarded a payment of $ 11 million, which is maliciously confused by Mr Almonte with what is set out in Annex T to the EPC contract, which refers to penalties and compensation and not bonuses, prizes or benefits additional for the consortium. .
The agreement of January 20, 2020 mentioned by Almonte was signed in New York and is part of the discussion process of the disputes between CDEEE and the Consortium, which ended in March 2020. Unlike Almonte who hid, he hid and deposited letter from Babcock & Wilcox exposing the lie, the settlement of that dispute was an event published in the international and local press, emphasizing that, from that moment, the Dominican government would benefit from all electricity generation from both units in Punta Catherine. This was essential for the Dominican population to have continuous electricity during the prison period imposed by the authorities to moderate the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
To put an end to this exchange, I propose that President Abinader authorize Mr Almonte, his Minister of Energy and Mines, to take part in a two-hour debate, televised throughout the country, which would certainly be made up of several channels. of television. television, so that the nation can verify who is lying and who is telling the truth about the most valuable electrical asset of the Dominican people.