Saint Lucia has been experiencing increasingly severe weather systems, largely because of climate change globally. These extreme weather events threaten LUCELEC’s critical infrastructure. LUCELEC understands that the St. Lucian grid is not currently built to resist the strongest of storms (Category 5 and above) and intends to update its grid construction standards and take actions to incrementally improve system resilience so that it is capable of withstanding Atlantic storms, which are expected t increase in severity and frequency due to climate change.

In preparation for these actions, LUCELEC engaged K&M Team to prepare a study that would address the following two major topics:

• Providing a means of measuring current grid resilience and setting annual resilience targets and
• Analyzing the electrical network infrastructure in St. Lucia using inspections, models, and other tools to identify a pipeline of projects to increase the resiliency of the transmission and distribution networks, generation assets, and LUCELEC’s solar farm.

Throughout the study, K&M will develop a reliability metric to track LUCELEC’s progress in improving system resilience. This will involve reviewing and analyzing system data, conducting interviews with LUCELEC’s senior staff, performing a site visit, and identifying a prioritized pipeline of climate resilience projects. The ultimate goal is to enable LUCELEC to develop a specific grid resilience improvement plan.

During the course of the study, K&M developed a reliability metric that would allow LUCELEC to measure their progress in improving system resilience, review and analyze the system data, conduct interviews with LUCELEC’s senior staff, perform a site visit, identify the pipeline of the climate resilience projects, and prioritize the projects to allow LUCELEL to develop a specific grid resilience improvement plan.

K&M was hired by a private client to provide a detailed analysis on the viability of Noble Group Holdings Limited using publicly available information or information provided by the Client. K&M research will include market intelligence of the recent restructuring of Noble Group. An understanding of the recent changes in the organization and their shareholders strategy will also be provided.

K&M served as technical and financial consultant to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Center for Privatization of the Government of the Dominican Republic. K&M evaluated the opportunities for and impediments to independent power producers in the Dominican Republic. Incorporating technical, financial, legal, regulatory issues, K&M evaluated private sector options for power generation. This effort resulted in the eventual development of the private power law enacted by the Dominican Republic in 1990.

K&M served as technical and financial consultants to Promigas, S.A. for a private gas pipeline project. The project consisted of a 1,000 km gas pipeline in Colombia and is one of the largest private undertakings in the developing world. Promigas, S.A. planned to build, own, and operate the pipeline. K&M provided overall financial structuring as well as commercial specifications for the project. K&M was responsible for: formulating and optimizing the financial package, interfacing with the World Bank for hard and soft credit facilities, interfacing with export credit agencies, preparing risk matrices, negotiating financial contracts, and evaluating and revising cash flows.

As technical consultants to the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), K&M completed a definitional mission study of CORELCA, the electric utility responsible for the Atlantic coast grid in Colombia. K&M conducted an energy loss study of Atlantic coast states including Atlántico, Bolivar, Magdalena, Córdoba and César. This involved an in-depth analysis of CORELCA’s bidding procedures and evaluation of their commercial specifications; an identification of equipment requirements, possible follow-on U.S. exports. In addition, K&M completed a comprehensive review of major existing distribution companies (DISCOS) serving CORELCA and recommended management changes to reduce electrical distribution losses. These included power losses that were both technical- and fraud-related. K&M also completed an analysis of the inventory, distribution, mapping system and networks. K&M’s evaluation and recommendations resulted in a streamlined program approach which saved the Colombian government and CORELCA the equivalent of several million dollars from distribution losses.

K&M was contracted by the World Bank to evaluate the options and requirements needed to improve the institutional and regulatory framework of the power sector in the Dominican Republic. K&M provided recommendations regarding 1) installation of technical systems, document preparation, formation of project evaluation parameters, and development of an institutional design for a Financing Guarantee Fund, 2) development of new power sector regulatory agency’s organizational structure, project evaluation policy, project modeling techniques and policy for private sector participation, 3) bid solicitation and evaluation guidelines for private power projects, and 4) a model RFP for the country’s first private power project solicitation.

K&M was engaged by USAID to provide the Government of the Dominican Republic with technical assistance on the institutional design and development of the Directorate for Development and Regulation of the Electric Power Industry (DDRIE). This agency was deemed necessary for the country’s development of the over 700 MW of power needed to achieve sustainable social and economic growth. DDRIE’s mission was to develop the power sector on a private basis.
K&M’s work included assisting DDRIE to: interpret existing legislation and to produce rules and regulations for reform of the power sector; develop its organizational structure; develop an institutional design for the Financing Guarantee Fund; provide training for the DDRIE personnel; and prepare complete set of guidelines and manuals for: accounting, tariffs, project proposal solicitation, evaluation and award, concessions, performance monitoring, operation of private sector participants, and enforcement procedures.

K&M was engaged by the World Bank to support recommendations to the Government of Bolivia for the promotion and co-financing with the private sector in the utilization of natural gas. The proposed projects attempt to increase the value-added of Bolivia’s natural gas reserves. K&M reviewed the business economics of the proposed investments and assessed the synergies and risks involved in a portfolio of projects depending on natural gas supply. The analysis served to provide a clear understanding of the business feasibility for private sponsorship of each project, given the long-term conditions of the domestic, Brazilian, regional and world energy markets.

K&M was engaged by USAID to investigate and identify private sector investment initiatives for natural gas-fired private power projects. K&M’s work included: assessing business synergies and risks of a potential gas pipeline and electricity generation plant project under a BOO/T scheme, recommending suitable level of return on equity (ROE) for the proposed project, and identifying potential sources of capital for debt and equity financing.

K&M was engaged by US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) to conduct a desk review of the Generation Expansion Plan prepared by Electricidad de Caracas. The objective of this review was to identify power plants that could be developed or built by US companies.