Renewable Energy
Committed to renewable energies, CEPM initiates the first wind studies carried out in the country and is the first company to invest in wind energy in the Dominican Republic. It inaugurated the Quilvio Cabrera Wind Farm in 2011. Over the years, this electricity generation model has continued to expand by using renewable sources such as photovoltaic solar energy projects that contribute to the sustainability and care of the environment. Today, it operates several solar parks that generate tens of megawatts that eliminate thousands of tons of annual CO2 emissions and make our main tourist destination a greener one.
Wind Power Development
The Consorcio Energético Punta Cana – Macao, S.A (CEPM) began its renewable energy activities in 1998, with the installation of a tower to measure wind parameters in country´s easternmost region, within its concession area, in the area of Cabo Engaño, La Altagracia. These first measurements eventually became the introduction so that, in the year 2000, the Danish consultant company RISO was hired to establish measurement points throughout the Dominican Republic.
The study revealed the following locations as optimal sites to carry out measurements:
-
Cabo Engaño, La Altagracia
-
Farallón, situated in the higher levels of the cliffs that cross the Punta Cana and Bávaro regions, La Altagracia
-
Barahona, Barahona
-
Juancho, Pedernales
With these results, CEPM focused its attention on the Cabo Engaño project (8.25 MW). During 2003, 2004 and 2005 the necessary steps were taken to obtain a loan from the World Bank´s International Finance Corporation to begin the process to contract companies to obtain government permits, including environmental permits, as well as the selection of the construction company of the project.
These requirements forced CEPM to redouble its efforts to obtain a new location for its wind farm. This is how, in 2010, the construction of the Wind Project began in the community of Juancho, in Pedernales province.
Finally, in October 2011, the project began full and continuous operation. The Park was named the “Quilvio Cabrera Wind Farm”, in honor of the Director of the Dominican Agrarian Institute (IAD, in Spanish) during the period when the necessary steps were being carried out for the use of the land in the Juancho area, and who provided unconditional support to guarantee the successful completion of the project.
During the first months of 2006, when the project was going to begin its construction phase, the Ministry of Tourism ordered the suspension of the project arguing that a tourism complex – valued at more than five billion dollars would be installed in the same place. To date, the project has not been built.
The Quilvio Cabrera Wind Farm
The Quilvio Cabrera Wind Farm was formally inaugurated in October 2011 and is, together with Los Cocos, the first of its kind to operate in the Dominican Republic.
It constitutes an important contribution to the diversification of the Dominican electrical matrix, with the generation of 8.25 megawatts of clean energy.
At the end of 2011, the wind farm – located in the community of Juancho – in the southwest province of Pedernales, generated and injected into the grid approximately 1,885 kWh, even though it only produced 76.6% during the first three months of operations.
During 2012, the wind farm generated 17,000 kWh, thereby avoiding the emission of 12,500 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, 13% above initial projections.
The Quilvio Cabrera Wind Farm was named as a tribute to engineer Quilvio Cabrera, the late Director of the Dominican Agrarian Institute. He was an important CEPM ally, making sure that all necessary permits and licenses needed for the installation of the wind farm in the Juancho valley were issued.
Solar Energy
The field of generation in this sector has been expanded through renewable sources with photovoltaic solar energy projects that, together with its electric mobility strategy, contribute to sustainability and care for the environment.
Today CEPM has three solar parks that generate approximately 12 MW of clean and reliable energy.
Installed in November 2019, and located in Bávaro, this solar farm contributes some ≈ 8.8 MWp of clean and reliable energy to our network. It consists of three (3) Power Electronic inverters: one of 3.63 MW, and two (2) of 2.42 MW, with 24,210 photovoltaic modules.
Launching of Commercial Operation of the Bávaro Solar Park (FV1): 09-Jan-2020.
Installed in December 2019, and located in the facilities of the Nickelodeon Hotel, in Uvero Alto, it contributes about ≈ 1.5 MWp to our network and generating energy savings to the Nickelodeon Hotel. It consists of seven (7) Huawei inverters of 185 kW, and some 4,312 photovoltaic modules.
Start of Commercial Operation of the Nickelodeon Solar Park (FV Nick): 01-Jan-2020.
Installed in March 2020 and located within the facilities of the CEPM Generator in Bávaro it contributes approximately ≈ 1.2 MWp to our network, generating clean energy and energy savings for the CEPM. It consists of six (6) Huawei 185 kW inverters and some 3,696 photovoltaic modules. The PV2 has been in a process of expansion since February 28, 2021, where another additional inverter (185 kW) will be added next week, God willing.
Start of Commercial Operation of the CEPM Self-consumption Solar Park (FV2): 01-Apr-2020.
- In 2020, we generated a total of 17.95 GWh of clean energy in our Solar Parks.
- In FV1: 14.1 GWh, in FV Nick: 2.4 GWh and in PV2: 1.5 GWh.
- 9,600 Tons of CO2 emissions were avoided in 2020, due to the generation of energy from our three (3) Solar Parks.
- In 2020, the solar resource-maintained values of 2,125 kWh/m2.
Biomass
Since 2016, CEPM has a biomass boiler which produces four tons of steam per hour for the internal consumption of the Bávaro plant. The start-up procedure for this type of energy generation contributes to the environment in different ways:
-
A very basic but fundamental advantage is to transform a waste product into a resource: the correct treatment of biomass means an increase in the recycling process and a decrease in waste.
-
By using biomass as fuel residues, waste, wastewater and purines are eliminated. The above-mentioned are a source of subsoil and groundwater contamination.
-
From an agricultural point of view, not only is the risk of fire minimized but the presence of harmful insects is also reduced. Waste is used without the need to burn it on the land itself, thereby making better use of the land, since these fallow areas can be used for energy-producing crops.
-
Throughout the world there is a large amount of wood, waste or organic garbage. Therefore, this source of energy is renewable, completing a cycle that makes it possible not to contaminate soils and destroy all kinds of waste.
Biomass is understood to be all organic matter that can be used as an energy source. The origin of biomass energy can be both of animal and vegetable origin, and may have been obtained naturally or obtained from artificial transformations that take place in biomass plants. This matter is converted into energy by submitting it to different chemical processes.