Itabo power station
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Itabo power station (Central Termoeléctrica Itabo) is an operating power station of at least 260-megawatts (MW) in Haina, Bajos de Haina, San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Itabo power station | Haina, Bajos de Haina, San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic | 18.405797, -70.027169 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the power station.
Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):
- Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3: 18.405797, -70.027169
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | Start year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | operating | coal: bituminous | 128 | subcritical | 1984 |
| Unit 2 | operating | coal: bituminous | 132 | subcritical | 1988 |
| Unit 3 | cancelled | coal: unknown | 300 | subcritical | – |
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner | Parent |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | Empresa Generadora de Electricidad Itabo SA [100%] | Grupo Linda [50.0%]; Fondo Patrimonial de las Empresas Reformadas [50.0%]; other [0.0%] |
| Unit 2 | Empresa Generadora de Electricidad Itabo SA [100%] | Grupo Linda [50.0%]; Fondo Patrimonial de las Empresas Reformadas [50.0%]; other [0.0%] |
| Unit 3 | Empresa Generadora de Electricidad Itabo SA [100%] | Grupo Linda [50.0%]; Fondo Patrimonial de las Empresas Reformadas [50.0%]; other [0.0%] |
Background
The two-unit, subcritical Itabo plant has been operational since the 1980s; Unit I (128 MW) and II (132 MW) went online in 1984 and 1988, respectively.[1][2]
It is owned by Ege-Itabo, owned equally by the state-owned Generadora de Electricidad Itabo and AES Dominicana.[3][4][5][6] The plant is one of the Dominican Republic's major electricity producers.[7]
Transfer of ownership
In June 2020, AES announced plans to sell 100% of its equity interest in the Itabo plant to Dominican-based Grupo Linda for $110 million. The sale was expected to be finalized in the fourth quarter of 2020, pending regulatory approval and other closing conditions.[8]
In December 2020, Fitch Ratings reported a negative outlook for plant owner EGE Itabo (Empresa Generadora de Electricidad Itabo S.A.) due to negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, but indicated that sale of AES's share in the plant to Grupo Linda was still set to close by year's end.[9]
In April 2021, the sale of Itabo finally closed, resulting in $100 million of proceeds for AES.[10][11]
Operational challenges
In July 2018 an estimated 30 tons of seaweed clogged the plant's cooling system and forced the plant to be shut down.[12] In June 2019 the plant was shut down due to the accumulation of sargassum, a kind of algae, in its cooling units.[13] Greater quantities of sargassum have been linked to climate change and higher sea temperatures off the coasts of Brazil and West Africa, from which sargassum floats to the Carribbean.[14] In May 2020 there was another recurrence of the sargassum seaweed problem at the plant despite the introduction of mitigation measures. Power output at units 1 and 2 was restricted because of this latest outbreak.[15]
In August 2021, following Tropical Storm Fred unit 1 was temporarily shut down due to flotsam reaching the water intake costing millions of pesos in lost energy production during cleanup.[16]
Reports of operational issues due to sargassum entering the plant's cooling units continued in mid-2023.[17]
Proposed Shutdown of Units 1 & 2
In September 2014, Omar Ramírez Tejada, Executive Vice President of CNCCMDL (the Dominican National Council on Climate Change and Clean Development) was quoted as saying that Itabo I and II would be shut down as soon as the 752 MW Punta Catalina coal plant commenced operations in 2017.[18] By 2020, however, even with the Punta Catalina plant fully operational, the Itabo plant continued to supply more than 10% of the country's electricity.[7] Under terms of a sale agreement negotiated in 2020, AES Dominicana has agreed to continue operating the plant at least through 2023, in exchange for a management fee from prospective new owner Grupo Linda.[9]
Proposed Unit 3 Expansion
In March 2013, the Dominican national electricity agency CDEEE (Corporación Dominicana de Empresas Eléctricas Estatales) signed an agreement with AES Dominicana for the construction of a 300 MW, US$800 million third unit at Itabo, to be financed by a mix of public and private funds.[19]
As of 2016, Itabo III, SRL was listed as one of the many subsidiaries of AES.[20]
As of January 2017, the Latin American business website BNAmericas stated that the Itabo III expansion was still "awaiting construction decision."[21] However, in subsequent years, AES Dominicana only listed the Itabo I and II plants on its website, and made no mention of the Itabo III project.[3]
Meanwhile, scant press reports about Itabo III indicate that there has been no movement on the expansion project since 2013. A September 2015 article in Vanguardia del Pueblo noted that plant sponsor Ege-Itabo had not spoken about the project in more than two years[22], and an August 2017 report in El Caribe cites Itabo III's demise as a direct consequence of the Dominican government's backing of the much larger Punta Catalina coal project.[23]
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ "Informe Estadístico 2014 (pp 21-22)". AES Dominicana. 2014.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "AES Dominicana (p 104)". United States Securities and Exchange Commission. 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Empresa Generadora de Electricidad ITABO, S.A." AES Dominicana. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "AES Announces Sale of Itabo Generation Facility in the Dominican Republic". PR Newswire. June 30, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Historia". ITABO. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
- ↑ "El Grupo Linda adquiere el 50% acciones de Itabo". Periódico El Caribe. June 30, 2020.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Tres empresas generadoras responsables de suplir casi el 60 % de la electricidad del país". Diario Libre. September 27, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "AES To Sell Itabo Power Plant To Grupo Linda For $110 Mln". Nasdaq. June 30, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Fitch Affirms Itabo's Ratings at 'BB-'; Outlook Remains Negative". Fitch Ratings. December 16, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Motley Fool Transcribers (2021-05-06). "AES Corp (AES) Q1 2021 Earnings Call Transcript | The Motley Fool". The Motley Fool. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
- ↑ "Form 10-K - The AES Corporation". United States Securities and Exchange Commission. February 24, 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Tons of seaweed force shutdown of major power plants in the Dominican Republic, GulfCaribe, Jul. 27, 2018
- ↑ El sargazo amenaza la producción de energía eléctrica en Dominicana, Diario Libre, Jun. 20, 2019
- ↑ Sargassum: a continuing challenge, Dominican Today, May 31, 2019
- ↑ Seaweed cripples major Dominican power plant, Dominican Today, May 11, 2020
- ↑ "Fred's flotsam shuts down major power plant". Dominican Today. August 13, 2021. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Presencia de sargazo continúa amenazando operaciones de plantas eléctricas". Pedro Brand. June 1, 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Nuevas plantas de carbón Baní sacarían del sistema Itabo I y II,", Hoy Digital, September 11, 2014.
- ↑ "CDEEE y AES construirán planta a carbón Itabo III de 300 megavatios,", Hoy Digital, March 25, 2013.
- ↑ "AES Corp. 2015 Form 10-K Exhibit 21.1," U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Feb 27, 2016
- ↑ "Proyecto Termoeléctrico Itabo III,", BNAmericas website, accessed January 2017
- ↑ "Punta Catalina ingresará US$1,200 millones créditos," Vanguardia del Pueblo, September 14, 2015
- ↑ "La recomendación 76 debe ser ignorada," El Caribe, August 8, 2017
Additional data
To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
