Jamaica Public Service (JPS) sole bidder for 480MW power-supply project
Published:Sunday | May 1, 2011 | 12:00 AM
The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) said Friday that the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) was the sole bidder for the supply of 480 MW of generating capacity, even after extending the deadline by a month to accommodate proposals.
JPS submitted one base bid and three alternative bids, all of which contemplate the use of natural gas, said OUR.
The regulator said it would now begin the evaluation "to determine if the bids are substantially responsive to the requirements of the request for proposal" before going the next step to negotiations.
OUR requested proposals under a build-own-and-operate (BOO) basis. The investor will be required to provide 360 MW of the capacity by 2014 and the other 120 MW by 2016. The selection of JPS, if its bid survives the next round, is expected to be finalised and the terms of the project agreed by March 2012, with construction scheduled to start a month later in April 2012.
Some 292 MW of the new capacity will replace existing load now provided by old infrastructure, which means that the project will add net capacity of 188 MW.
2016 deadline
The company is bidding to supply new generating capacity amounting to 480 MW net to the national grid of Jamaica on a BOO basis. This is required to be commissioned in two parts, 360 MW by 2014 and a further 120 MW by 2016.
This new capacity shall be base-load and is intended for the displacement of approximately 292 MW of aged plants with the remainder to provide for load growth.