Baja California Sur has better power generation alternatives for the future as currently envisioned. More clean, renewable, economic and reliable power generation can be integrated into the isolated Baja California Sur power grid which requires 584 MW of new thermal generation capacity by 2030. This paper compares two alternatives for this future thermal fleet: power plants based on gas turbine technology and internal combustion engine (ICE) technology.
Selecting the ICE option leads to 232-373 million USD (or 5.7-9.1 percent) system-level cost savings over the years 2016-2030, compared to gas turbine scenarios. If uncertainties are taken into account, such as a delay in constructing an LNG import terminal, the savings can reach 1.5 billion USD (33 percent). The cost savings produced by the flexible, efficient and reliable ICE alternative also translate into less overall fossil fuel consumption and a reduction of emissions in similar levels to the fossil fuel savings.
