New Fortress Energy files protest over exclusion from tender

New Fortress Energy’s CEO said the company’s offer is the fastest to deploy as the firm has nine turbines on-island that are ready to be immediately deployed. (newfortressenergy.com)

By The Star Staff

New Fortress Energy (NFE) CEO Wesley Edens fired off a letter this week to Gov. Jenniffer González Colón which, among other things, asked her to reveal who is behind the lobbying for the emergency power generation contract.

The island government excluded NFE from the competition for not meeting the tender’s requirements. The government is seeking about 850 megawatts (MW) of temporary energy generation for the peak summer months.

Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Energy announced “Emergency Actions to Provide Overdue Relief to Puerto Rico Power Grid” and promised to provide funds for temporary emergency power generation. That same day, NFE submitted a formal request to the Public-Private Partnership Authority to reconsider its decision to exclude NFE’s bid for a temporary power generation contract from consideration with the stated reason that the bid is “non-conforming.”

“I urge you to review our position and ensure that NFE’s offer to provide temporary power is considered on equal footing with other bidders,” Edens said in a letter dated May 19. “Our offer was for 225mw of gas fired generation. These are turbines that we own and are currently in Puerto Rico.”

“Our offer was a flat rate of 25 cents per kw [kilowatt]. The bid stipulated that there was to be no government guarantees of minimum use of the units, which we accepted,” he wrote. “We believe NFE’s offer to provide temporary power is superior to any other bids.”

Edens said NFE’s offer is the fastest to deploy as the firm has nine turbines on-island that are ready to be immediately deployed.

“Backed by substantive experience,” he noted. “NFE deployed identical turbines in San Juan and Palo Seco in record time, and as result has experience deploying temporary power units on-island that no other bidder can claim.”

“We believe we were the only bidder to propose gas-powered energy rather than dirtier and more expensive diesel,” he added.

The NFE’s offer was also the cheapest, the firm’s CEO said.

“At a flat rate of 25 cents/kw we believe our bid offers the best value to the people of Puerto Rico,” Edens wrote.

He complained that not once did the government say his offer was non-conforming. He said the two firms that are finalists have no experience.

“NFE’s offer and experience stand in stark contrast to those vendors identified for contract negotiation,” Edens wrote. “Our understanding is that two firms were selected as finalists: Javelin Global Commodities is a commodities firm which seems to have little or no direct power expertise or experience. Power Expectations has seemingly no prior relevant experience whatsoever in providing large scale power solutions.”

“Based on the information we have seen, we do not believe that either offer is lower cost, faster, or more capable than NFE’s and as a result have filed a formal protest as we believe we are the lowest cost and most capable respondent,” the CEO wrote. “But, of course, we do not have clear information on the bids or process as there has been no communication with us.”

“We also request that all business relationships both currently and in the past between any lobbying firms the selected bidders employed and senior government officials be fully disclosed,” Edens added. “A level playing field and a clear, transparent, and fair bid process is all that we want.”