USTDA Helps Develop Clean Energy in the Dominican Republic
December 19, 2014
(USTDA)
Three New Projects Promote Adoption of Innovative Financing Mechanisms and
Greener Technologies
SANTA DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – Today, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency
awarded grants to three electricity sector entities in support of their efforts
to deploy clean energy solutions in the Dominican Republic. These projects,
which represent the Agency’s renewed focus on its partnership with the Dominican
Republic, will help meet the country’s energy demands in an environmentally
responsible way.
“USTDA is pleased to promote innovative platforms and state-of-the-art U.S.
technologies that can enable greater use of renewable energy generation and
increase power reliability in the Dominican Republic,” stated USTDA Regional
Director Nathan Younge, who witnessed the grant signings by U.S. Ambassador
James Brewster, Jr. and representatives of each grantee.
Working with Trace International, one of the key installers of solar
photovoltaic (PV) systems in the Dominican Republic, USTDA is supporting the
development of a third-party financing model for solar PV systems. The
technical assistance will help Trace International develop an innovative
financing mechanism that will enable large commercial customers to acquire solar
PV systems for self-generation. This will unlock a key market segment that has
remained relatively untapped and further business opportunities for U.S.
companies who have developed solar technologies.
USTDA also provided a grant to Consorcio Energético Punta Cana – Macao, S.A.
(CEPM) for a feasibility study and pilot project to assess the technical and
economic feasibility of deploying modular electric generators in CEPM’s area of
concession. This grant will support CEPM’s goal of developing a distributed
generation system that is capable of providing non-interruptible electricity to
hospitals, hotels and other commercial sites. This project continues USTDA’s
cooperation with CEPM, which last month joined a USTDA-sponsored technical visit
to the United States to meet with U.S. companies that offer cybersecurity and
access control solutions.
Finally, USTDA is supporting the Coordinating Organization of the National
Interconnected Electrical System’s (OC-SENI) efforts to evaluate technologies to
improve reliability, lower service costs, and allow for real-time monitoring and
control of power systems in the Dominican Republic. OC-SENI has initiated
upgrades to implement supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) in
approximately 40 percent of its system, and requires further technical
assistance to proceed with additional upgrades. This project will also assess
the needs of all of the Dominican Republic’s major generation, transmission and
distribution providers.
The opportunity to conduct the USTDA-funded technical assistance with OC-SENI
will be competed through Federal Business Opportunities (FBO). A link to the
FBO announcement will be posted to USTDA’s website at www.ustda.gov. Interested
U.S. firms should submit proposals according to the instructions in the FBO
announcement.
This Fact Sheet provides additional details about each grant.
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