NFE allegations of bid exclusion denied by energy czar

By The Star Staff

Puerto Rico Public-Private Partnership Authority (P3A) Director Josué Colón Ortiz denied claims made by New Fortress Energy (NFE) CEO Wesley Edens about bias and lack of integrity in the tender seeking some 800 megawatts (MW) of temporary energy.

Edens this week fired off a letter 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 government excluded NFE from the competition for not meeting the tender’s requirements.

On May 16, 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 P3A to reconsider its decision to exclude NFE’s bid for temporary power from consideration with the stated reason that it 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.”

Colón Ortiz, who also acts as the island’s energy czar, said in notes that neither the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority nor the P3A handled the bidding process, which was delegated to a firm called ResComS, which since 2023 has been in charge of competitive processes.

Some 75 firms initially expressed interest in the tender but in the end, officials received seven offers. Only two proponents were selected. According to NFE, those were Javelin Global Commodities and Power Expectations.

Colón Ortiz said that on May 10, ResComS informed all request-for-proposals proponents of the selection.

ResComS informed the P3A that all formalities were followed in the process.

The tender is for emergency temporary energy for at least 18 months.