Expansion of the power supply: BAUER Fundaciones Dominicana S.R.L. is constructing the foundations for a large power station in the Dominican Republic

Regularly, the Dominican Republic experiences massive blackouts. Often the entire island nation, which has an area of approximately 49,000 square kilometers, is affected. A new coal-fired power station, currently being built about 40 kilometers from the capital city of Santo Domingo, should solve the country's power problems. In September 2014, the consortium Odebrecht-Tecnimont-Estrella awarded BAUER Fundaciones Dominicana S.R.L. – a subsidiary of German BAUER Spezialtiefbau GmbH – the contract to construct the foundations for this power station. The work is scheduled to be completed in February 2016. This is the biggest contract for Bauer Fundaciones Dominicana so far.

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The scope of work executed by Bauer include soil compaction with around 210,000 meters of stone columns, construction of 50,000 meters of polymer-supported bored piles with diameters of up to one meter, as well as construction of 6,500-square-meter diaphragm wall, 1.2-meter-thick and up to a depth of 30 meters. Two BAUER BG 28 large-diameter rotary drilling rigs and three vibration units are in use, in addition to auxiliary cranes and small drilling rigs. BAUER Fundaciones Panamá S.A. is significantly supporting the sister company Bauer Fundaciones Dominicana by providing equipment and personnel.

Responsibility for the Punta Catalina project, worth USD 2 billion, is in the hands of a consortium of three companies – Construtora Norberto Odebrecht S.A., Maire Tecnimont SpA and Ingeniería Estrella SRL. With this large power station, the national electrical utility company CDEEE – Corporación Dominicana de Empresas Eléctricas Estatales – hopes to substantially improve the power supply in the country. The coal-fired power station, with a capacity of 750 megawatts, is scheduled to be connected to the power network in 2017.