House to explore addition of 400 MW of temporary power to cover shortfalls

By THE STAR STAFF

The island House of Representatives will begin an evaluation process for the installation of temporary power generation systems to provide 400 megawatts (MW) of electricity to the energy grid.

Among the initiatives will be a meeting with the heads of the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau, the Public-Private Partnerships Authority and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority.

There will also be meetings with the directors of Genera Puerto Rico, which manages about 60% of the power generation plants on the island. Executives from power company Applied Energy System Puerto Rico, or AES, and the Eco-Eléctrica power plant will also be present. 

The announcement was made over the weekend by House Speaker Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez and Government Committee Chairman Rep. Víctor Parés Otero.

Referring to a recently canceled contract with Power Expectations, the House speaker noted that “given what happened with the proposal for temporary generation of 400 megawatts, we are going to insert ourselves because Puerto Rico needs that generation stability.”

“To this end, I have ordered the Government Committee to develop a path that facilitates the acquisition of those megawatts as soon as possible, under a framework of total transparency,” Méndez Nuñez said.

Parés Otero added that “Puerto Rico needs temporary power as it comes online, completely the battery backup systems, the repair of units and the modernization of part of the generation infrastructure.”

“The Government Committee will continue the investigation of what happened with the Power Expectations contract; however, there is a need for those 400 megawatts and that is why we are opening a process of evaluation, of frank discussion, an open but agile consideration of reality, to add this generation,” he said.