Latin America, Caribbean power roundup

Colombian power company Codensa announced that public documents were signed to complete its acquisition of Empresa de Energía de Cundinamarca (EEC) and Distribuidora de Energía de Cundinamarca (Decsa).

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Bolivia's state power company Ende issued a call for expressions of interest to identify areas in departments Cochabamba, Chuquisaca and Tarija where solar power plants could be built. Documents for the 120-day Proyecto Occidente contract are due October 10.

Meanwhile, hydrocarbons and energy minister Luis Alberto Sánchez reported that a new demand record of 1,458MW was set at 8pm on September 30, breaking the previous high of 1,433MW the day before and 1,414MW on September 28.

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The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) awarded Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) a grant to support expansion of utility-scale renewable energy generation as part of the Clean Energy Finance Facility for the Caribbean and Central America.

DNV KEMA Renewables will carry out a feasibility study to evaluate seven wind and solar power sites, USTDA said in a statement.

"Currently, approximately 57% of the power sold by BEL is from clean, renewable energy sources (hydro and biomass)," Jeffrey Locke, the CEO of BEL, said.

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The board of the US Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) authorized CEO Julio A. Rhymer, Sr to enter into a contract with Wärtsilä to determine the feasibility of adding 21MW of propane/LPG-fired capacity at the Randolph E. Harley power plant.

In a release, WAPA said the project is part of a just-approved near-term generation action plan, and that preliminary engineering work will take six weeks.

The utility also reported that residents may experience intermittent outages during the next phase of testing as part of commissioning to convert units at the Estate Richmond power plant to also run on propone/LPG that is being carried out with GE and Vitol.