Jaguar Energy power station
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The Jaguar Energy power station is a 300MW solid fuel fired power generation facility near Puerto Quetzal, Escuintla, Guatemala operated by Jaguar Energy, a Guatemalan subsidiary of AEI (Ashmore Energy International).[1]
Contents
Location
The map below shows the plant, which is located approximately 30km north of Puerto Quetzal, Escuintla, Guatemala.
Background
The plant is owned by AEI’s Jaguar Energy, who originally contracted the station's construction to China Machine New Energy Corporation (CMNC). Funding was provided in part by a loan from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI). The project's total investment was initially projected at US$700 million, with commercial operations scheduled to begin in 2013.[2]
In December 2013, with the plant already seven months behind schedule, Jaguar Energy cancelled its contract with lead contractor CMNC[3] and construction was suspended.[4] Jaguar Energy solicited new bids for electromechanical and construction work[5] and in February 2014 signed a new agreement with the Ecuadorian company Santos CMI.[6] In March 2014, Jaguar Energy Guatemala's General Manager Ernesto Córdova reported that the plant was 60% complete, and that his company would invest $400 million and hire 1400 workers to ensure completion of the project by May 2015. Upon completion of the project, Jaguar Energy would become Central America's biggest producer of coal-fired electricity.[7]
In June 2015, after ongoing delays[8][9] culminated in Jaguar Energy's failure to bring the plant online by the agreed-upon May 17 date, the Guatemalan energy distributor Energuate announced that it would cancel its contract with Jaguar Energy and seek to collect US$45.3 million in compensation, as stipulated in the contract.[10] However, in early July 2015, Energuate reversed this decision, reinstating the agreement under which Jaguar Energy would supply 200MW of power to the grid.[11] A few weeks later, the plant's second unit successfully completed a 24-hour test run at its full 150 MW capacity, and Jaguar Energy announced that both units of the plant were ready for commercial operations.[12] In August 2015, according to Jaguar Energy's website, Guatemala's Administración del Mercado Mayorista granted formal accreditation to the Jaguar Energy power station, with energy supply contracts valid for 15 years.[13]
In July 2015 news broke of a major corruption scandal, in which Jaguar Energy is alleged to have paid Guatemalan officials US$120 million in exchange for government assistance in removing legal and environmental obstacles to the plant's construction.[14] In the same month, agents from Guatemala's Ministerio Público (Attorney General's office) raided the Jaguar Energy plant site, after residents of the neighboring town of San Miguel Las Flores complained of large numbers of dead fish and severe pollution of the adjacent Río La Mora, allegedly caused by illegal dumping of contaminated waste water from the plant.[15] The Guatemalan government issued a warrant for the arrest of Jaguar Energy's former General Manager, Ernesto Córdova, a key figure in the corruption scandal, but as of late 2015 Mr. Córdova's whereabouts remained unknown.[16]
As of late 2015, La Hora reported that Jaguar Energy was still meeting its contractual obligations with electricity purchased on the spot market rather than energy generated by the company itself, due to continuing delays in bringing the Jaguar Energy power station online.[11] In June 2016, Central America Data reported that the plant was poised to finally begin commercial operations[17], and Jaguar Energy's General Manager David Walton confirmed in a November 2016 press release that the plant is now operational.[18]
Project Details
- Sponsor: Jaguar Energy Guatemala
- Parent company: AEI (Ashmore Energy International)
- Location: Puerto Quetzal, Escuintla, Guatemala
- Coordinates: 14.110715, -90.722650 (exact)
- Status:
- Unit 1: Operating
- Unit 2: Operating
- Gross Capacity:
- Unit 1: 150 MW
- Unit 2: 150 MW
- Type: Subcritical
- Projected in service: 2016[7]
- Coal Type: Bituminous
- Coal Source:
- Source of financing:
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ "Jaguar Energy Guatemala LLC," AEI website, accessed October 2015.
- ↑ "Guatemala: AEI’s Jaguar Energy Begins Construction of 300MW Power Plant," Central America Data, May 7, 2010.
- ↑ "Contract for Construction of Coal Plant Canceled,", Central America Data, December 17, 2013.
- ↑ "Guatemala: 300 MW Plant Halted Due to Business Dispute,", Central America Data, January 24, 2014.
- ↑ "Jaguar Energy Tenders Power Plant Works,", Central America Data, January 31, 2014.
- ↑ "Planta Termoeléctrica Jaguar Energy,", BNAmericas website, accessed December 2016.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Jaguar Energy Guatemala finalizará planta en mayo de 2015," E&N, March 14, 2014
- ↑ "Guatemala: Más demoras en Jaguar Energy," Central America Data, April 10, 2015
- ↑ "Guatemala: Más retraso para planta de carbón," Central America Data, June 5, 2015
- ↑ "Guatemala: Cancelan contrato a Jaguar Energy," Central America Data, June 17, 2015
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Jaguar Energy, un negocio en el centro de la polémica," La Hora, September 16, 2015
- ↑ "Jaguar Energy concluye con éxito prueba de potencia de la segunda unidad,", Prensa Libre, July 26, 2015.
- ↑ "¿Quiénes somos?,", Jaguar Energy website, accessed December 2016.
- ↑ "Intimate of Guatemala president charged with corruption,", Deutsche Welle, July 10, 2015.
- ↑ "MP efectúa allanamientos en empresa Jaguar Energy por caso de contaminación,", Prensa Libre, July 13, 2015.
- ↑ " What Was an Enron Spinoff Doing in the Middle of Guatemala’s Corruption Scandal?,", The Nation, September 28, 2015.
- ↑ "Guatemala: Jaguar Energy Starts Operations,", Central America Data, June 9, 2016.
- ↑ "Tribunal Arbitral resuelve a favor de Jaguar Energy,", Jaguar Energy press release, November 28, 2016.
