(Rechargenews.com) The presidential cabinet has asked public services authority Asep and electricity transmission company Etesa to look again at the contract for output from a 121MW wind farm project awarded during the country’s recent tender.
The controversy focuses on Sara Elena Cortés Aguilar, who worked for UEP. Cortés is also the current director of Proinlo, a government investment programme.
The cabinet says Cortés’s role as a legal representative for UEP could have influenced the awarding of the contract to the private company, and may fall foul of the public servants’ code of conduct in relation to “transparency and prudence”.
It calls for Asep and Etesa to reissue the tender should the contract be revoked.
UEP won the contract on 30 November at a rate of $90.58 per MWh running until 2028. The project must come on line next year.
“We are convinced that we have done nothing illegal,” Rafael Pérez, director at UEP, tells local media.
The developer says Cortés was not a legal representative of the company, but describes her as a “resident agent” between May 2009 and October 2011.