Black & Veatch to conduct studies for LNG terminal in Colombia

With economic growth returning in many sectors and robust GDP projections, Colombia is anticipated to experience power generation shortfalls in 2022 and consistent natural gas deficits by 2023, even as global LNG production soars. The AET seeks to aid Colombia’s energy transition to more sustainable power sources and add resilience and reliability to an electric grid heavily reliant on hydro generation assets that are subject to weather-related production variance. In addition, the AET looks to develop a hyperscale data centre and new facilities for storing liquid fuels, including infrastructure to meet the emerging opportunity in the hydrogen market.

“Our energy terminal reflects a forward-looking approach to solving Colombia’s energy and data infrastructure needs,” said Manuel Tenorio, Chairman, Andes Energy Terminal. “By combining fuel supply, efficient and sustainable power generation, storage and data infrastructure in one location, we can achieve significant efficiencies to reduce the overall environmental footprint of the project and provide a strong basis for much needed investment in the Southwest region of Colombia.”

The AET is strategically located within the Bay of Buenaventura presenting an opportunity to build a multi-purpose infrastructure project leveraging a natural deep-water port that provides ease of access, rights of way and simplified permitting due to its location near the Port of Buenaventura. The Port is considered the main foreign trade port in Colombia with roughly 65% of international cargo mobilised through its facilities.

The feasibility studies, which are funded by a grant from the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), will verify the proposed project site’s suitability, define the project design requirements, and estimate capital and operating costs. It also will assess the financial viability and define financing options while preparing a detailed implementation and construction plan.

Black & Veatch, founded in 1915, is a global engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) and consulting company specialising in infrastructure development in power, oil and gas, water, telecommunications, government services, mining, and data centres. Black & Veatch is the 7^th largest majority employee-owned company in the US and ranked No.2 in power design by Engineering News-Record, which compiles and publishes rankings of the largest construction and engineering firms annually, measured by gross revenues. The Company has more than 100 offices worldwide and has executed projects in more than 100 countries on six continents.

Andes Energy is also partnering with a world-leading strategic power solutions vendor, which will provide equipment, solutions and services for the power plant. The partner, who remains undisclosed, is active in more than 180 countries, with their technology producing a third of the world’s electricity. “As outlined, this project provides the type of comprehensive planning critical to accelerating the energy transition and enabling greater grid resilience through more-connected infrastructure,” said Oscar Falcon, Managing Director of Latin America for Black & Veatch’s power business. “Across Central and South America, developers of ambitious projects like the Andes Energy Terminal demand thoughtful assessments by trusted experts in everything from LNG and electrical generation to energy storage and emerging technologies. Our expertise across the power market provides the surety developers and investors need to undertake projects of this scale and complexity.”

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/liquid-natural-gas/04062021/black-veatch-to-conduct-studies-for-lng-terminal-in-colombia/