In news from the Santo Domingo, Lee Hyeon-chan, general manager of overseas projects of the South Korea Electric Power Corporation, has established an investment collaboration framework with the Dominican government.
The state-owned Electric Power Corporation of South Korea (KEPCO) has won, thanks to the quality and reputation of its construction products, the contract for the construction of electric substations and the establishment of the electric power distribution system in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, according to KEPCO itself.
The project has a comprehensive design that includes the engineering intervention, equipment acquisition and construction of the buildings. The contract will have a value of 38,150,000 and covers the construction of three electrical substations in the capital of the Caribbean country.
The contract award ceremony, held in Santo Domingo, was attended by KEPCO’s general manager of overseas projects, Lee Hyeon-chan, and the Minister of Energy and Mines of the Dominican Republic, Antonio Almonte Reynoso, among other participants from the two nations.
Lee said that the Dominican Republic is a long-standing partner in the energy industry sector, adding that the project will serve as a base platform for South Korea to expand the energy market to other Latin American countries.
According to the SENI Coordinating Agency’s Daily Operations Executive Report, almost 70 percent of the energy not served in the Dominican Republic is due to a generation deficit, while the remaining 30 percent is due to internal distribution causes.
The electricity peak is very high in tourist areas, which leads to the granting of concessions for electricity generation to the private sector, but to the detriment of popular consumption, which has to live with the annoying blackouts in the summer months.
These substations will help increase the country’s generation capacity, which will reduce blackouts, especially in the circuit of the capital Santo Domingo. The island’s electrical infrastructure is highly dependent on oil, which is imported almost entirely, compromising the energy sovereignty of Dominicans. Less than 100 oil wells had been drilled in the Dominican Republic before 2019 and domestic production had only reached a maximum of 30,000 BOPD, and this would have been in the 1950s.
The Dominican Republic has not reported any domestic production in recent years, but in 2019 it announced the bidding of drilling and development rights for 14 onshore and offshore oil blocks.
