Procurement pitched for Puerto Rico fuel swap plan

A competitive procurement process that may include a request for proposals has been submitted as part of Puerto Rico’s fuel swap push.

The proposal is part of a conditional approval by the island’s energy regulator PREB of a request from Genera to switch the primary fuel of the Mayagüez thermoelectric plant to natural gas from ultra-low sulfur diesel.

Genera operates power authority PREPA’s legacy thermal park.

“This process must ensure, to the extent feasible, the participation of multiple natural gas suppliers, fostering a transparent and competitive selection that secures the most favorable economic and technical conditions,” the watchdog said in a resolution and order, available in the Documents box in the top-right corner of the screen.

Puerto Rico’s Public-Private Partnership Authority, a third-party procurement office or PREPA would handle bidding.

The project entails the installation of regasification units and associated infrastructure to facilitate the processing and delivery of natural gas to the converted units.

PREB already granted conditional approval for Genera’s fuel switch project at the Palo Seco plant while a request for the Cambalache plant is under review.

Also read Puerto Rico forecast to retire 1.67GW of legacy thermal by 2038