The Gibraltar Electricity Authority (GEA) has announced it has terminated its contract with Bolaños Mechanical Engineering Company (Bolaños).
The GEA says the community now enjoys an independent source of power with the capacity and infrastructure at the new LNG Power Station to fully power Gibraltar, with the appropriate back up and resilience measures being developed.
The contract with Bolaños was entered into in February 2013 following the termination of the OESCO Contract. Bolaños was contracted by the GEA on an initial term of six months, to assist with the generation of power in order to meet Gibraltar’s power requirements. This contract was then extended to ensure the GEA had the appropriate power to meet our community’s increasing demands.
Bolaños originally operated the ex-OESCO generating engines but these were subsequently replaced with more efficient, and environmentally friendly, temporary generating sets.
In April 2014, a catastrophic fire engulfed the Waterport Power Station as a result of a generating engine failure, which considerably extended the need for Bolaños’ continued assistance in ensuring the resilience of Gibraltar’s generating capacity.
Following the completion of the new LNG Power Station and its hand over to the GEA in January 2021, as well as the decommissioning of the Waterport Power Station in December 2020, the GEA says it is no longer necessary to continue with the arrangements with Messrs Bolaños and they will therefore finalise the agreement with Bolaños with effect from the 30th June 2021.
Bolaños has now met with its employees and has engaged the Trade Unions in order to initiate the redundancy consultation process, in line with local employment legislation.
The GEA will be working to support Bolaños and its employees in mitigating the impact of this contract being finalised. HM Government of Gibraltar has said it will also work with employees to provide them with support and assist them in finding alternative employment within the private sector in Gibraltar.
The GEA says it has worked successfully with Bolaños since the original contract was entered into and is therefore grateful to the company and all of their employees for their diligent and dedicated work during this time. The termination of the arrangements come about as a direct result of the needs of the community now being adequately provided for by the GEA’s new LNG power station at the North Mole.
