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Home » General, Living

Calderon Inaugurates Greening Of Power Plant In Manzanillo

Submitted by Manzanillo Blogger on Sunday, 27 July 20087 Comments

For any who have visited or lived in Manzanillo, you will no doubt agree that it is a beautiful place with the exception of the eyesore power plant. Pumping millions of tons of pollutants into the air year round, this power plant has been a sensitive subject for residents, tourists, and environmentalists alike. Finally, official action is in place to make the switch to natural gas.

On July 15th 2008 President Filipe Calderon was present at the start of the construction for the Manzanillo Liquid Natural Gas Storage and Regasification Terminal. Work has officially begun on the plant and it is slated to be finished July 1, 2011 according to CFE website. The work will include the construction of a new port for deep-water tankers. They will supply the liquid natural gas to the plant. The regasification plant will then turn the liquid back into gas. This plant will have two storage tanks, each bigger than the Plaza Mexico and will be able to store 500 million cubic feet of gas daily. When completed it will generate an incredible 1800 megawatts of electricity. When combined with a similar smaller plant being constructed in Guadalajara, the total power generated will be 3GW.

This is good news for many people, as it promises cheaper and cleaner electricity for much of central Mexico and the west coast; namely the states of Colima, Jalisco, and Michoacan. Not only will the construction of this plant provide 500,000 new jobs, it will also save US$230 million a year. The deal Calderon procured for gas is among the cheapest in the world at $1.35 per million BTU.

This represents an enormous step for Mexico in sustainable development and the fight to hold off global warming. Calderon hopes this project will provide an example for other countries and governments. The change from fuel oil to natural gas will save 1-1.5 million tons of coal being burned and pumped into the atmosphere every year. The gas cloud that has become a common sight for us in Manzanillo will completely disappear, and the air quality for the area will improve immeasurably. The President promised that for every one mangrove that is dug up in the Cuyutlan lagoon, five will be replanted to preserve the biodiversity and natural resources of the environment. That adds up to more than 40 hectors of mangrove forest being planted. This action will not only greatly boost tourism to Manzanillo, it will also increase the sources of income for fisherman in the area.

The plant is being built by the “KMS LNG terminal consortium”, consisting of the Japanese and Korean firms Mitsui, Kogan, and Samsung. This is a huge step for Manzanillo, as it is a region where even composting is considered unimportant.

Update 10/28/08- Ever wonder why we need a "regasification" plant anyway? It has to do with how the Natural Gas is processed in order for it to be shipped. A recent article at Daily Breeze explained the process very simply:

LNG is natural gas cooled to a subfreezing liquid and shipped thousands of miles across oceans to receiving plants where it is rewarmed to a gaseous state and then inserted into existing gas pipelines for use in homes, buildings and power plants, among other places.


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7 Comments »

  • Manzanillo Blogger said:

    This is HUGE for the manzanillo area. YAY Manzanillo!

    - 27 July 2008 at 5:42 pm
  • dave-the-wave~ said:

    WOW! WOW! CAN’T WAIT TO SEE A REAL SUNSET IN LAMANZ….I ALWAY DREADED SEEING THAT NASTY SKY LINE OVER THE OCEAN!

    - 30 July 2008 at 9:52 am
  • Luz Gallagher said:

    Our home is the first home built in 1970 on the peninsular where Vida del Mar is;(Villa Copa de Oro). We came down to look and stayed.. it was and is a part of mexico heaven to us. Since living here over 30 years we have seen lots of progress; some we rather not have but others have been welcome. We like having electricitiy daily, phones, high speed connections; TV; and better roads (toll roads, and the nice blvd down to Manz.) The improvements are wonderful but the smog from the electric plant is terrible. In the winter, we all get a taste and smell of it. Hopefully, this improvement will lower our electric bills. We find water and electricity sky high now, compared to years ago. However, we hardly had any then. We were in our 40’s when we arrived and now in our 80’s. Mx has been wonderful to us. We enjoy our mexico heaven. http://www.mexicoheaven.com

    - 6 August 2008 at 8:37 am
  • Manzanillo Blogger (author) said:

    Hopefully that will happen. As of yet, we don’t get any of the electricity that plant produces. Which is why electricity is so high in Manzanillo.

    - 7 August 2008 at 12:00 am
  • dan marrinson said:

    I first arrived in Manzanillo in 1970, August. The clean air and water were the main things that hooked me. 38 years later I am still here in spite of the CFE electric plant. You are correct the solid pollutants will be reduced by 97 + % and our skies will be blue and hooray for that. The people will have less breathing problems and other health related problems, the plant is very noxious high, sulfur, heavy metals, and mercury are just a few of the carcinogens coming out by the ton daily. Our air quality is actually lower quality than Guadalalajara. The Mexican govs environmental web sites attest to this fact.

    The pollutants from the plant have had a devastating affect on wild life, fisheries and the citrus growers here.

    Those problems will be all but gone.

    The mistake is to think the switch to Natural Gas is good for the global warming problem. The carbon footprint of the plant will get larger not smaller, as more and more power is called for, and Natural gas is not a sustainable product.

    Natural gas is another fossil fuel and as a resource is finite, not to mention something countries will be willing to go to war for.

    Am I glad the plant is being converted for the short term local pollution problems, sure, anyone who has seen Manzanillo go from pristine to polluted will be happy.

    The real answer is sustainable sources of power. Mexico with its average of 300 plus days of sunshine,1000s of miles of coastline and mountain passes and active geothermal areas is a country that could really start to get off the fossil fuel addiction.

    Why hasn’t it moved in that direction? The same reason very few other countries have made a real commitment. The money being made by the theft of resources around the world is so huge that powerfull people don’t have an interest in encouraging the switch to renewables they can’t control.

    These same corporations and the people that run them have an unhealthy, and in some cases criminal influence on governments around the world.

    Yes I am as happy as anyone that the plant will be cleaned up, but a fossil
    fuel fired energy source is not the answer for future generations to live on a healthy planet

    Manzanillo Blogger- Thanks for that great post Dan! You are absolutely right, natural gas is not a solution by any means to global warming. It will make for a nicer environment here though. Greed being what it is… I think it is highly unlikely man will solve it any time soon. What looks very interesting is the research going into oil producing algae which actually eats carbon emissions. I found this post on the Wired blog: Making Renewable, Carbon-Neutral Oil From Algae. Who knows if anything will come of it, but the prospects look very exciting.

    - 24 August 2008 at 6:51 pm
  • Manzanillo Blog’s Most Popular Posts | Manzanillo Mexico Blog said:

    [...] Greening of Manzanillo’s Powerplant An overview and description of the new liquid natural gas powerplant currently being built in Manzanillo [...]

    - 28 September 2008 at 2:50 pm
  • peddler665 said:

    Thanks! I will post this on some websites where some knock Manzanillo on this issue. It’s about the only flaw in a otherwise perfect place! Not nearly as bad as some would have you believe however. Heck visit LA! LOL

    - 30 September 2008 at 12:39 pm

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