---
Public-Private Partnerships Authority (P3A) Executive Director Josué Colón Ortiz said Wednesday that his agency is evaluating the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hydrogen plant for southern Puerto Rico.
The project was proposed by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) to the P3A and is currently under evaluation, Colón Ortiz said.
The P3A chief and island energy czar’s comments were in response to remarks made by PREPA Executive Director Mary Carmen Zapata to another media outlet, where she emphasized the need for an additional fossil fuel-based power generation facility, ideally in the southern region. The government has already approved the construction of an LNG plant by a consortium called Energiza in northern Puerto Rico.
Zapata noted last week that historical models for ensuring the future stability of the electrical grid have consistently included at least one combined cycle plant in the south, one in the north, and an additional one in the south.
It was also mentioned that the Energiza plant, which will have the capacity to produce some 478 megawatts by burning natural gas, is set to be constructed next to the San Juan plant, in front of the capital’s dock.
