Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) is the sole retailer of

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describe ...

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. It is responsible for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the country's electrical transmission and distribution network. The utility supplies electric power to customers on both islands via a single interconnected grid. Electrical energy is widely been purchased, metered and feed into the national grid from independent power producers. These producers are the Power Generation Company of Trinidad and Tobago (PowerGen) giving a total of 1,344 MW, Trinidad Generation Unlimited (TGU) giving 720MW and Trinity Power Ltd. giving 225 MW. All

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many ...

s in Trinidad and Tobago are fueled by

hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ...

s. T&TEC was formed in 1946 after the merger of independent companies. It supplies over a million residential, municipal, commercial and industrial customers. PowerGen is the largest power generator in Trinidad and Tobago. In 2006, the United States-based

Mirant Corporation GenOn Energy Holdings, formerly Mirant Corporation, was a subsidiary of GenOn Energy, and is now a part of NRG Energy. The company was spun off from its former parent, Southern Company, on April 2, 2001. The company was merged into GenOn Energy o ...

, facing a severe financial situation, announced that part of Mirant's restructuring efforts includes the intent to sell off their part ownership of PowerGen. Following that announcement, the government of Trinidad and Tobago placed the overall structure of T&TEC and PowerGen under review for future possible amalgamation. At that time the companies T&TEC, Mirant and BP currently owned 51%, 39% and 10% of the PowerGen company respectively. Any possible termination of the Mirant (now Genon) stake was seen as an opportunity to simplify the structure and relationship between the T&TEC and PowerGen companies. Since then Mirant sold its position and the new minority shareholders are MaruEnergy Trinidad L.L.C. (owned by the Japanese multinational -

Marubeni (, OSE: 8002, NSE: 8002) is a '' sōgō shōsha'' (general trading company) headquartered in Nihonbashi, Chuo, Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the largest ''sogo shosha'' and has leading market shares in cereal and paper pulp trading as well as a s ...

) which has a 39% shareholding and parastatal NEL Power Holdings Limited which has a 10% ownership. Powergen operates three major power generation plants which are located at Point Lisas, Port of Spain and Penal. The largest generation plant is located at Point Lisas. The generation plants individual capacities are: Point Lisas : 838 Mega Watts Port-of-Spain : 270 Mega Watts Penal : 236 Mega Watts Trinidad Generation Unlimited (TGU) is an independently operated parastatal managing a single power plant but is the second largest producer in Trinidad and Tobago. The 720-megawatt (MW) TGU facility is the largest combined-cycle power generation plant in the Caribbean and currently supplies approximately 50% of Trinidad & Tobago's electrical energy. TGU is owned by the National Investment Fund Holding Company Limited (NIF), a parastatal company established by its only shareholder, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and is located at the Union Industrial Estate,

La Brea, Trinidad and Tobago La Brea is a town in southwestern Trinidad, located northeast of Point Fortin and southwest of San Fernando. La Brea (Spanish for "the tar" or "the pitch") is best known as the site of the Pitch Lake, a natural asphalt lake. Pronunciation of "La ...

. Trinity Power Ltd. at

Couva Couva is an urban town (48,858 in 2011 census) in west-central Trinidad, south of Port of Spain and Chaguanas and north of San Fernando and Point Fortin. It is the capital and main urban centre of Couva–Tabaquite–Talparo, and the Greate ...

in the Point Lisas Industrial Estate is Trinidad's only totally privately owned wholesale power generator and has a capacity of 225 MW. An article in the May 2006 issue of Power Engineering magazine it was announced that G.E would be operating and maintaining the Trinity power plant. The Trinidad Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries website stated as of November 2020. "Trinity Power Limited (TPL) is owned by US based Carib Power Management LLC, which is a small private independent power an infrastructure company with expertise in the development, acquisition and long term operation of power generation, natural gas exploration, and transportation and infrastructure projects." In December 2020 it was announced that Trinity Power Ltd. is being acquired by

ContourGlobal ContourGlobal plc is a British power generation business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in December 2022. History The company was established by Joseph Brandt with financial support f ...

a British International Investment company.Trinidad Newsday: ContourGlobal says local jobs are safe
/ref> Cove Power Station owned by T&TEC and on the smaller island of Tobago was put into operation in October 2009. This 64 MW Wärtsilä natural gas or diesel power plant will reduce transmission losses on electric power transmission underground marine cables between the islands, in addition to upgrading bulk power to Tobago previously provided by T&TEC's old 21 MW Scarborough Power Station which only used diesel fuel. Scarborough is still available for standby use at a capacity of 11 MW.

References

{{Authority control Electric power companies of Trinidad and Tobago

See also

References