U.S. energy company AES Corporation has agreed to sell 100% of its equity interest in the 295 MW Itabo power plant in San Cristobal, the Dominican Republic as it continues its portfolio decarbonization.
The facility has been sold to Grupo Linda, a Dominican-based conglomerate, for a consideration of $101 million, AES said in its statement.
AES has owned and operated the Itabo facility, which includes a 260 MW coal-fired plant, and a 35 MW gas turbine, for more than two decades.
Grupo Linda has co-owned AES Dominicana, AES’ generation and natural gas business in the Dominican Republic, with AES since 2014.
“The sale of Itabo will enable us to continue to decarbonize our portfolio”, Andrés Gluski, AES president and CEO said noting the company is now “better positioned to identify, develop and invest in innovative and sustainable energy solutions that will help to further transform the Dominican Republic’s energy matrix.”
With last week’s sale of the 1,740 MW OPGC 1&2 coal-fired power plants, and the sale of Itabo, AES’ generation from coal in MWh has been cut by eleven percentage points, to approximately 34 per cent of its total generation. AES has committed to reduce its generation from coal to below 30 per cent by the end of this year and to less than 10 per cent by the end of 2030.
AES expects final closing to occur in the fourth quarter of 2020.
In the Dominican Republic, AES will continue to own and operate 697 MW of generation capacity, as well as a regasification facility with a 70 tBtu LNG storage tank.