The government requested they were awarded to Siemens, who promised a sooner set off. The German company Siemens will be the building contractor of the two power generating stations, which have lately become the government’s hope to avoid future problems with electricity.
This was decided yesterday afternoon by the Power Supply Department and the six companies investing in the project, which will demand 1,059 million dollars and will add 1,600 megawatts to the national electric power system.
More than half of the reimbursements for the project will be covered by the Argentine State, and the generators with borrowings against the State will transfer the remaining 500 million dollars: a year ago, the government urged the sector to invest that money as a way to recover the debt. An executive, between cheerful and resigned said last night: "Yes, we are the fools who had the gun on their forehead for this work." This was then the only alternative found by the sector to recover these liabilities.
The one who pressed the most for Siemens to be appointed was the Government. This time, the energy emergency had more weight than price: the German company was the only one willing to build beforehand, before the two combined cycles were ready, the open cycles, a partial stage of the work, which allows generating power before the end of the project.
Thus, it was granted a term close to half a year to produce the new power. A conclusive point while the crisis puts pressure.
Although Siemens, who competed with the offers of the French firm Alstom, and the Japanese Mitsubishi, will collect a higher price (around 5 millions dollars over the others, according to business sources).
Last night, neither Siemens nor the Ministry of Planning was willing to talk to LA NACIÓN.
In the midst of the hurry
The boards of the two power stations, made up of executives from the generators Endesa, Total, AES, Petrobras, Duke Energy and EDF, met yesterday at 10 a.m. and decided which will be the organization in charge of the approval, a decision which was later transmitted to the Department of Power.
Lately, generators had not reached an agreement on this issue, but they found a government request: they were urged to decide in favor of Siemens, due to a matter of times.
"This is a government decision, not ours -they said in one of the companies-. However, the winner is a competent building constructor: they did not appoint Tito’s workshop at Warnes Street.”
In another company, they were less categorical: "I would have granted one for Siemens and another for Mitsubishi, but due to a matter of times it was reasonable to decide in favor of Siemens. This is the difference between having electric power and not having it."
Evidence of the hurry is that the German company had submitted an offer for only one of the stations, the one to be located in Campana, in the North of the province of Buenos Aires, to be called Generador Manuel Belgrano, and will cost 511 million dollars.
For the other power station -which will be built in Timbúes, province of Santa Fe, to be named Termoeléctrica San Martín, and with a cost of 548 million dollars- Siemens requested a term of 60 days to submit a technical offer. The Government’s message said that they should go on, as if the detailed offer had been already submitted, and they gave it the requested term.
Three elements
The generators evaluated, mainly, three elements: price, date for setting off, and performance of the machines. Once the company was designed, they should make a proposal before the Department of Power, which has the power of veto. In case of rejection of the proposal -which was not the case this time -, the government always has to give its reasons.
Siemens submitted the cheapest project for the power station of Timbúes. Mitsubishi, however, had the cheapest for the power station of Campana (around 60 million dollars lower). Nevertheless, Siemens managed to win with the mentioned proposal of setting off before the open cycle, an initiative that none of the other bidders, due to technical issues, was willing to fulfill.
Pre-allocation will be signed on the 19th this month, and the contract, next November. The idea of the government is that they shall be able to open the first single cycles during the first half of 2008, which would add 1060 megawatts to the system, and the rest of the work, in April 2009. Yesterday, the Minister of Federal Planning, Julio De Vido, tried to transmit peace in a conversation with Radio 10 [a local radio station]. "We have to be quiet, the plan is going on as anticipated in May 2004, when we announced it. There are no delays; everything is in time and shape and in the right order."
However, the main doubt of the generator companies is where the fuel will come from to supply the new power stations, which work with gas or, in case of shortage, with gas oil. The private sector says these are two scarce consumables. If gas would be the only fuel, the natural fuel of the stations, 6 million cubic meters more would be necessary: something more than a 5 per cent of the present consumption of Argentina or more than the quantity imported from Bolivia.
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