Saith:
Govt to pull plug on PowerGen
Juhel Browne
Trinidad Express
GEORGETOWN
Petroleumworldtt.com
03 04 07
Port of Spain's existing PowerGen electricity generating
station will be closed down in two years time.
Energy Minister Dr Lenny Saith said
yesterday a new, more modern, power station will
be constructed at a new location in the capital
city.
"So that as we close Port of
Spain we should have a new power station, the tentative
site is at Sea Lots," Saith said.
In addition, a new 50-60 megawatt
dual power station that can operate on fuel oil
and natural gas is to be built in Tobago for the
first time.
As such, the National Gas Company
(NGC) is now required to submit a proposal to get
natural gas to Tobago by 2008.
This is part of a new plan approved
by the Cabinet yesterday that will see an increased
dependence on the nation's natural gas reserves
to meet a potential doubling increase in the demand
for electricity from 1,190 megawatts to 2,232 megawatts
by 2016.
The plan, entitled Strategy for
Meeting the Country's Power Requirement to the Year
2016" was proposed by the Standing Committee
on Energy based on a paper from the Natural Gas
Export Task Force.
Saith disclosed the recommendations
during yesterday's post-Cabinet news conference
at Whitehall, Port of Spain.
"The first one was that the
Port of Spain power station be retired from producing
power when the power purchase agreement (PPA) with
Petrotrin expires at the end 2009. At the end of
2009, we're not going to renew that PPA and that
facility will be demobilised," Saith said.
Saith
said the new facility, which should be in operation
by the end of 2009, will have a minimum capacity
of 250 megawatts.
Trinidad
Express
Friday,
March 2nd 2007
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