The country’s first smart city is in the eastern tourist area

The “first smart city” in the Dominican Republic operates in the tourist area of ​​Bávaro, Punta Cana, with its solutions in the supply of energy and facilities in automotive mobility with electric power and, with plans in water, gas, and other services garbage collection in intelligent buildings.

The first step, after solid investments in the area, to reduce the impact of C02 (carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere, the private sector has introduced new technologies that are less polluting in activities that substitute natural and other renewable energies such as solar and wind (sun and wind, respectively) generated by nature, and biomass (plant or animal organic matter) in place of conventional fuels, such as gas. 

The areas where environmentally friendly energy solutions can be observed include Punta Cana, Macao, Miches, Bayahíbe, and Uvero Alto that make up the concession of the Punta Cana Energy Consortium (Cepm), where the company covers 65% of the national tourist activity.

Since 2016, the consortium offers an intelligent metering system that allows its clients real-time access to all the data related to their electricity consumption.

Through the pioneering project in the country, Evergo and Transporte Monumental, the Punta Cana – Bávaro destination is positioned at the forefront of electric mobility, revolutionizing local tourism towards a more sustainable model world reference.

This project is part of a pilot program through which Transporte Monumental will have at its disposal a total of three 100% electric vehicles provided by InterEnergy Systems, the division that Evergo operates, for three months. This fleet is made up of the first electric bus in the country, with 44 passengers; and two minibusses, with a capacity for 18 people each.

The planned routes include tours in  ​​Punta Cana, Bávaro, Verón, Uvero Alto, and Miches; excursions to Isla Saona, Bayahibe; and transfers between hotels and airports in this area. The range of these vehicles is around 300 kilometers, which allows long journeys to be made.

Pilot in the tourism sector

To promote the advantages of electric vehicles over combustion transport vehicles in terms of maintenance, autonomy, availability, among others, Cepm has also put into operation two BYD taxis with a range of 300 kilometers, a 42-passenger bus Yutong brand, with a range of 300 km and two JAC brand buses with a range of 260 km.

“These solutions allow us to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and in this way fulfill our commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We are allies of sustainable tourism development in the Dominican Republic,” says Roberto Herrera, executive director of Cepm. In addition, they are betting on expanding their investments in gas pipelines to expand the supply of natural gas.

Energy coverage

In the concession areas of Punta Cana, Cepm covers this area with more than 1,300 kilometers of high, medium, and low voltage transmission and distribution lines, 50,000 hotel rooms, and more than 45,000 low voltage clients.

This network comprises:

Smart Grid: in which they are pioneers in the implementation of the Smart Grid, which plays a relevant role in the restoration of the service in the face of the impact of natural phenomena.

Smart Metering: with this, all of the electric meters are replaced by intelligent equipment of the most advanced technology, with remote connection, and capable of operating in prepaid or postpaid mode; allowing customers to see their consumption in real-time, through the virtual office, which helps to considerably reduce response times and save costs in commercial operations such as cutting, reading, and reconnection.

B2B software: They use these trade-to-trade tools, giving large customers the possibility of handling information that this interaction with energy consumption provides.

Energy Management: It allows identifying opportunities for improvement to use the energy used in their respective businesses efficiently.

Current Scope

Cepm operates 23 thermal stations (ET’s) in operation and three under construction. These stations are distributed in 15 hotel groups in the Dominican Republic.

They use Artificial Intelligence to optimize systems. It is the only distribution company in the country that offers 100% intelligent tele-metering to its customers.

Electric Mobility

With the support of InterEnergy Group (www.interenergy.com), InterEnergy Systems Dominicana emerged, a pioneer in implementing electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the Dominican Republic and high-efficiency Thermal Power Stations, smart electrical grids for Smart Cities both in the Caribbean and in Latin America.

InterEnergy Systems Dominicana is the first and only company in the Dominican Republic certified OCA (Open Charge Alliance) to develop your own applications based on this standard protocol in the industry.

In addition, it has and operates the first network of smart electric vehicle chargers under the same ecosystem called Evergo, which maximizes the user experience through multiple interactive platforms such as RFID, WhatsApp Bot, APP, and PWA.

Evergo has 230 charging stations. Among the hotels that have joined the electric mobility Westin Punta Cana, Tortuga Bay, Viva Resorts, Cap Cana, Casa de Campo, Lemon Hotel, Four Points By Sheraton, Eden Rock Cap Cana, and Nickelodeon.