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The island of Saona is now operating with 100% renewable energy, thanks to a recently commissioned plant that offers continuous electricity supply to one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the Dominican Republic, which until now was without electricity and drinking water.
The Bayahibe Electricity Company (CEB) is behind the development and the commissioning of the Saona power station, making it the first and only island of the hemisphere with 100% renewable energy.
According to CEB, a subsidiary of the Punta Cana-Macao Energy Consortium (CEPM), the plant has an initial storage capacity of 5 megawatt hours (MWh) which “could be expanded based on the economic and social development of the community.”
It consists of a structure of photovoltaic modules that store energy in sophisticated batteries and provide electricity service around the clock to the Caribbean island, famous for its beaches and natural paradises.
The facilities will improve the quality of life of the more than 600 residents in Saona and its economy. Until now the lack of energy for businesses and restaurants limited operations to a maximum of four hours for the million tourists who each year visit the 110-square kilometer island in the southeast of the Dominican Republic.
“I am very happy with the CEB project. I thought that at my age I would not see this progress with electricity. Now I can watch television, turn on the fan or use the iron,” Bienvenida Díaz said in a company press release.
Mercedes Rodríguez, who says that the arrival of energy will help her soap-making business by allowing her to use an electric grinder, agrees. “With the machines everything is easier. Now I’ll be able to start up what I’ve always dreamed of,” she said.
This is a model that Rolando Gonzalez Bunster, president of InterEnergy Group, parent company of CEPM and CEB, does not rule out replicating in other areas of the Dominican Republic and other islands around the world to promote the development of clean and environmentally friendly technology.
Gonzalez Bunster highlights the benefits that clean energy is to bring to Saona, including access to clean drinking water, electric transport and the installation of a refrigerated supply chain, essential for fishing in the area.
In order to give the island’s inhabitants greater control over their electricity consumption, the service is to be provided through a prepayment system.
The project also includes the creation of an intelligent network of modules in different points of the habitable area of the island, together with the modification and improvement of the electrical infrastructure of more than 120 houses, businesses and commercial premises in Saona. The electrical infrastructure of the school and the medical clinic on the island is to be improved and receive free energy.
CEB is a subsidiary of Punta Cana-Macao Energy Consortium, a company that has generated, distributed and sold electricity for thirty years and currently has more than 300 MW of installed capacity.
Through more than 1,200 kilometers of high, medium and low voltage lines, the company supplies energy to more than 65% of Dominican hotels, which makes it an important player in tourist development in Punta Cana, Bavaro, Macao, Uvero Alto, Miches, Bayahibe and La Romana.
CEB’s parent company, InterEnergy Group, is one of the largest clean energy companies in Latin America and the Caribbean and operates power generation plants in the Dominican Republic, Panama, Jamaica, Chile and Uruguay. EFE
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