Termotasajero power station

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{{#badges: CoalSwarm|Navbar-Colombiacoal}} Termotasajero power station is a 323-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant Norte de Santander, Colombia.

Two additional units (Termotasajero III and IV) were announced in 2014 but cancelled in 2018.

Location

The undated satellite photo below shows the plant in San Cayetano, near Cúcuta, Colombia.

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Background

The plant is owned by Termotasajero S.A., a subsidiary of Colombian investment company Colgener S.A. Its 163 MW Unit I has been operating since 1985.[1]

Unit 2

In May 2011, company director Hernando Díaz Martínez announced plans to construct a US$330 million, 160-megawatt second unit at Termotasajero, contingent on a successful outcome in the late 2011 energy auction sponsored by Colombian regulatory agency Creg (Comisión de Regulación de Energía y Gas).[2]

In January 2012 Korean trading firm Hyundai Corporation secured a $300 million deal with Termotasajero S.A. to construct the plant, with a scheduled completion date 36 months after start of construction.[3]

In November 2012 the Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W) was awarded a $60 million contract to design and supply a 180 MW coal-fired boiler for Termotasajero Unit 2 for South Korean contractor Hyundai Engineering Co., Ltd. Plans called for delivery of the boiler by early 2014, and start-up of the new unit by late 2015.[4]

In an October 2014 interview with El Nuevo Siglo, Alejandro Castañeda, president of ANDEG (Colombia's national power generators' association), said that the second unit of Termotasajero was already 92% complete and on track for a December 2015 start-up date. Mr. Castañeda stated that the new unit would add 170 MW to Termotasajero's generating capacity[5], while other sources have reported Unit II's capacity at 160 MW.[6]

Termotasajero II successfully completed synchronization on November 2, 2015.[7] The plant, reported as 160MW, came on-line in December 2015 and, after a month-long halt in operations due to equipment damage, resumed generating power at full capacity on 15 March 2016. [8][9]

Units 3 and 4

Termotasajero has plans for two additional units at the plant: a 200 MW Unit III and a 250 MW Unit IV.[6] In June and July 2014, plant operator Termotasajero S.A. filed paperwork with Colombia's environmental licensing agency ANLA seeking to modify the plant's environmental permit to include a proposed coal-fired Unit III.[10] The company reportedly hoped to begin construction of Unit III sometime in 2017.[8]

In an August 2016 interview with Revista Activa magazine, Termotasajero's Technical Manager Juan David Arango Vélez confirmed that the company was currently developing engineering plans and negotiating with construction companies, but that actual construction of Unit III would be contingent on the results of Colombia's next annual energy auction, tentatively scheduled for 2017.[11] In October 2016 CREG, Colombia's national energy regulatory agency, called off the anticipated 2017 energy auction, affirming that energy supply from existing plants and those already under construction would be sufficient to supply the country through November 2020[12], and in 2017 Colombia's government proposed additional changes to its energy auction process that seem destined to favor renewable energy sources over traditional hydrocarbon-fueled plants such as Termotasajero.[13][14]

In May 2018 the project's sponsors announced the cancellation of Units 3 and 4 in a letter to the Colombian Mining Energy and Planning Unit (Upme).[15] The letter cited the government's apparent lack of interest in developing coal-power projects, declining interest among banks in funding coal projects, and the prospect of new taxes on coal consumption.[15]

Project Details

  • Sponsor: Termotasajero S.A.
  • Parent company: Colgener S.A.
  • Location: San Cayetano, Cúcuta, Norte de Santander, Colombia
  • Coordinates: 7.8473, -72.6328 (exact)
  • Status:
    • Units 1-2: Operating
    • Unit 3: Cancelled
    • Unit 4: Cancelled
  • Gross Capacity:
    • Unit 1: 163 MW
    • Unit 2: 160 MW
    • Unit 3: 200 MW
    • Unit 4: 250 MW
  • Type: Subcritical
  • Projected in service: 2016 (Unit II)
  • Coal Type:
  • Coal Source: local coal mines
  • Source of financing:

Articles and resources

References

  1. "Coal-Fired Plants Financed by International Public Investment Institutions Since 1994", Appendix to Foreclosing the Future: Coal, Climate and International Public Finance: Investment in coal-fired power plants hinders the fight against global warming, Environmental Defense, April 2009.
  2. "Termotasajero proyecta construir una segunda planta,", Portafolio.co, May 8, 2011.
  3. "Hyundai wins $300 mil. power plant order from Colombia," The Korea Times, Jan. 19, 2012.
  4. "B&W awarded $60MM boiler project in Colombia," PennEnergy, Nov. 6, 2012.
  5. "Generadoras descartan desabastecimiento de energía," El Nuevo Siglo, October 21, 2014.
  6. 6.0 6.1 "Termotasajero S.A. E.S.P.," BNAmericas website, accessed October 2015.
  7. "사람과 공간 - 현대엔지니어링," Hyundai Engineering Magazine, Jan 11, 2016
  8. 8.0 8.1 "Termotasajero 2 entró nuevamente en funcionamiento," La Opinión, March 15, 2016
  9. "TermoTasajero 2 provides 4GWh/d, equivalent to 3pc of national demand," Argus Media, March 23, 2016
  10. "Resolución 1311, por la cual se modifica una Licencia Ambiental," ANLA, October 31, 2014.
  11. "Termotasajero le cumple a la región y la proyecta al desarrollo," Revista Activa, August 26, 2016.
  12. "Gobierno no ve necesarias nuevas plantas generadoras de energía," El Tiempo, October 24, 2016.
  13. "Hay temor por el futuro de las termoeléctricas," El Tiempo, September 10, 2017.
  14. " Habrá subasta de energías no convencionales," El Tiempo, November 3, 2017.
  15. 15.0 15.1 TermoTasajero III cancela su proyecto para la generación de energía, Cocier, Jun. 1, 2018

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External resources