By The Star Staff
The Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB) has extended to May 31 the termination date for nine of 23 renewable energy and battery storage contracts that were going to expire today unless they achieve closing.
The decision comes as the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) informed the PREB that four of the proponents have opted not to close any power and purchase operating agreements (PPOAs), the PREB announced earlier this week. The identity of the service providers that left the tender was not provided. The initial contracts are with Clean Flexible Energy LLC, CS-UR Juncos PY LLC, Convergent Coamo Energy Storage 1 LLC, Esmeralda Solar Farm LLC, Diversys Solar LLC, Go Green Usa America Corp., Pattern Barceloneta Solar LLC, Guayama Solar Energy LLC, Solaner Puerto Rico One LLC, Solarblue Bemoga LLC, YFN Yabucoa Solar LLC, Tetris Power LLC, Enerxia Solar LLC, Pattern Vega Baja Solar LLC, and Ciro Two Salinas LLC. Except for AES, the rest did not respond to requests for comment.
PREPA has been working against the clock to close the renewable energy agreements, especially the nine expiring today. The rest expire in June. The Tranche 1 bid consisting of the procurement of 1,000 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy capacity and 500 MW of battery storage was tendered in 2021.
Achieving closing has been difficult because the service providers are seeking to amend agreements to accommodate inflation and new prices.
On April 4, the PREB ordered PREPA to close all of the energy PPOAs and five battery storage contracts within a 60-day extension period the regulator had previously granted.
After PREPA insisted it was going to be difficult to close the contracts, the PREB on April 17 ordered PREPA to file the best offer received from each project so that it may consider a potential extension of the deadline. The regulator had initially said it would not grant extensions.
On April 20, PREPA’s governing board approved changes to the “levelized cost of energy, which varies in each contract, to provide the flexibility needed to close the negotiations.”
The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is a number used in calculating the present value of the total cost of building and operating a power plant over an assumed lifetime.
In its Monday, April 24 order granting an extension, the PREB ordered PREPA to provide, no later than this Friday, supporting information on the LCOE and LCOS (levelized cost of storage) values for the projects. The PREB also ordered PREPA to resubmit any amended PPOAs for the regulator’s approval at least 15 days before the expiration of the applicable termination dates.
https://youtu.be/gPUX_HzL-X4 the Fact that you can’t comment on their feed means that they are imploding from within like the PR government and their fascists, socialists communist cronies 🤣. This is nothing compared to how much the UK owes the Americas and the rest of the EU.