The Consolidated Commission on Utilities will convene tonight to vote on the contract for a new power plant.
CCU commissioner Simon Sanchez, in an interview with Phill Leon Guerrero on NewsTalk K57, said the new power plant will replace the island’s aging Cabras generators.
Sanchez said the new power plant is capable of using both ultra sulphur fuel, which burns more cleanly, and the cheaper liquefied natural gas, or LNG.
If the go-ahead is given for the new power plant, Sanchez said rate-payers can enjoy lower overall rates because the new plant is very fuel-efficient and takes less fuel to run.
South Korean company Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) won the bid for GPA’s new power plant. It is the first time a Korean power company has landed a U.S. thermal power plant project though international bidding.
Sanchez says he doesn’t know how the other CCU commissioners will vote tonight but that he personally will vote in favor of the new power plant.
“We’ve been at this for 10 years. We’ve been very transparent. Tonight that all comes before us. I don’t know how others will vote, but I will vote in favor. Afterward, the matter will be brought to the Public Utilities Commission,” Sanchez said.
The CCU meeting starts at 5:30 p.m.
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