Completed Development AidData Chinese Aid

[China-Venezuela Joint Fund] CDB provides loan for Termo Carabobo II Power Plant (Linked to Record ID#58677)

Funder	China Development Bank (CDB)
Recipient Organization	Banco de Desarrollo Económico y Social de Venezuela (BANDES)\|China-Venezuela Joint Fund
Country	Venezuela
Start Date	Jan 01, 2010
End Date	Oct 15, 2028
Duration	6,862 days
Number of Grantees	1
Roles	Recipient
Data Source	AidData Chinese Aid
Grant ID	`91283`

Grant Description

[China-Venezuela Joint Fund] CDB provides loan for Termo Carabobo II Power Plant The TermoCarabobo II coal-fired power plant cost #1.116 billion. The project has a capacity of 680 MW. It was built by Sinohydro in conjunction with Corpoelec and PDVSA. The plant was completed on April 15, 2014.

An additional phase worth USD 880 million to add an additional 320 MW was being contemplated at the time of the completion. It seems that this addition did not actually occur.

A 2019 Andorran lawsuit alleged that Sinohydro bribed the cousin of the former president of the PDVSA to give them the the TermoCarabobo II contract. It was also alleged that Sinohydro overcharged for the plant by USD 620 million).

It seems that the plant stopped fully functioning at some point between its opening and 2022, because efforts are currently underway to "rehabilitate" the plant. The goal was to repair each of the plants four 150 MW generators to bring the capacity to 600 MW. As of May 4, 2022, the third unit was 63% complete.

📋 Staff Comments

This project is not the same as TermoCarabobo I, also known as El Palito, which is captured by project ID#91257. Researchers should be aware that they are located near each other, have the same contractors, and have similar names. TermoCarabobo I has a capacity of 772 MW while TermoCarabobo II has a capacity of 680.
This project is linked to the China-Venezuela Joint Fund (#58677) 3. The commitment year is unclear. In 2010, Venezuela allocated USD 5.5 billion from the China-Venezuela joint fund to the construction of power plants (see project ID#37833). This project may be part of that initiative given the construction start date and the inclusion of TermoCarabobo I in that project, but this project was not mentioned in the sources.
No transaction amount is given because it is captured in the China-Venezuela joint fund project.
'Expensive Scams' gives the total project cost as USD 1,273,700,000. The more conservative 1.116 billion amount provided by the government of Venezuela in 'Planta Termocarabobo II generará 680 MW y estabilizará al SEN' was used.

📚 Sources & References

TermoCarabobo II generará 680 Megavatios
Rehabilitan cuatro unidades de la Planta de Generación Termocarabobo II
Reverol: the goal is to empower the people to control public services
Planta Termocarabobo II generará 680 MW y estabilizará al SEN
New thermoelectric plant adds 680 MW to Venezuela’s grid
Expensive Scams Loan applications and disbursements are still being received and processed as the projects continue to evolve. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation are in place to ensure project continuity.