By The Star Staff
Genera PR, which in January 2023 signed an agreement to operate Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority legacy power plants, wants the island’s energy regulator to keep under wraps the draft plan to decommission the Vega Baja power plant submitted this month, arguing it may lead to misunderstandings and qualifies as a trade secret.
The private operator of the power plants said the draft plan presented on April 17 contains sensitive information that is “inherently dynamic and provisional.”
“As a work in progress, the draft decommissioning plan reflects current strategies and plans contingent upon further evaluation and modification by the [Puerto Rico] Energy Bureau. Such changes could significantly alter its content and directives,” Genera PR said in a request to the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB) dated April 24. “Public disclosure at this stage could lead to misunderstandings and misrepresentations about the intent of the decommissioning strategy, underscoring the need for confidentiality.”
Further compounding the need for confidentiality, Genera PR said the draft decommissioning plan includes details critical to developing an ongoing public procurement process still under consideration by the PREB.
“Such fluidity necessitates that the plan remains confidential in accordance with Article 4.2 of Regulation 8815,” Genera PR said. “Disclosing the information contained in the draft decommissioning plan at this juncture would not only contravene Regulation 8815 but also threaten the transparency of the ongoing procurement process, thereby undermining Genera’s position as the issuing authority.”
Genera PR further underlined the need for confidentiality by highlighting the proprietary nature of the draft decommissioning plan’s analysis. The analysis, derived from a comprehensive understanding of the market and leveraging insights from past experiences, incorporates methodologies that are not readily accessible to the public or competitors in the energy sector. If disclosed, the analysis could compromise Genera PR’s competitive advantage, the operator said.
The draft plan, which is part of Genera PR’s responsibility to decommission power plants, outlines how the operator intends to approach, execute, record and complete the decommissioning services, including the permitting, demolition, decontamination, waste disposal and dismantling in preparation to host new battery energy storage units. In parallel, Genera said it has published a request for proposals for the demolition of the plant.
Genera also seeks to support the grid with battery energy storage and believes 430 megawatts (MW) of BESS systems can reduce load shedding by 90%. The private operator launched a tender recently to buy 430 MW of battery energy storage and a Peaker request for proposals seeking 330 MW of new generation. Both tenders are slated to be awarded before the end of May.