Dominican Power Partners

What it is

Dominican Power Partners owns and operates the Los Mina V and VI power units in Santo Domingo — two natural-gas combined-cycle turbines plus a battery energy storage system, with a combined generating capacity of 368 megawatts. Together with its sister company AES Andres, the AES group supplies roughly 17% of the Dominican Republic’s total electricity demand.

The company was incorporated on 14 November 1995 under the laws of the Cayman Islands, and has operated its Dominican branch since 1997. Its sister plant, AES Andres, also operates the country’s only LNG import terminal — a 160,000-cubic-metre facility that receives, stores and regasifies the natural gas that feeds both plants.

Who owns it

AES Dominicana — the local operating arm of The AES Corporation — owns 65% of both Los Mina (DPP) and the Andres plant. AES holds a strategic partnership with the Estrella and Linda Groups, two leading Dominican industrial families; in December 2023 AES sold a further 20% stake in the overall AES Dominicana structure, including 10% to Grupo Popular’s investment arm, AFI Popular.

The remaining 35% is therefore held by these Dominican private investors, making this a US-controlled, locally co-owned infrastructure company.

DPP raises capital from the Dominican public through bonds listed on the BVRD and registered with the Superintendencia del Mercado de Valores (SIMV) — which is why it files audited financial statements locally. Both Feller Rate and Moody’s Local assign it the highest available local credit ratings, with stable outlooks.

Who runs it

Edwin De los Santos serves as President of AES Dominicana and was reelected to lead the American Chamber of Commerce in the Dominican Republic for the 2024–2025 term. He is the senior executive responsible for all AES operations in the country, including DPP.

DPP’s own Board of Directors comprises three members, and the management team averages more than 15 years of experience in the Dominican electricity sector. Individual board member names are not disclosed in available sources.

The money, in plain words

In 2024, DPP earned $392.6m in sales — virtually flat from $396.1m in 2023 — but kept only $35.0m of that as profit, a net profit margin of 8.9%, down sharply from 14.5% the year before. The culprit was rising fuel costs: the cost of sales grew 11.4%, compressing the gross margin to 31.1% from 38.8% in 2023.

For every dollar shareholders have invested, DPP still earns back about 39 cents a year — a return on equity of 38.6% (our calculation) — which is high, though well below the 63% it achieved in 2023. Net income fell 39% year-on-year to $35.0m.

Notably, DPP paid out $51.6m in dividends to its parent in 2024 — paying more than it earned, drawing on accumulated reserves — a sign of how important DPP’s cash generation is to the wider AES Dominicana group.

Total assets at year-end 2024 stood at $548.3m (our calculation from audited balance sheet), funded mainly by $259m in bonds and $52m in a related-party loan, against $35m in cash — a heavily leveraged but tightly managed balance sheet. Interest coverage — the ratio of operating cash to interest charges — stood at 4.1 times, still comfortable even as gas costs rose.

What it is doing now

AES Dominicana holds a long-term LNG purchase contract running through the second half of 2034, locking in gas supply for both the Andres and Los Mina plants. Andres also sells regasified LNG to industrial users and third-party power plants across the Dominican Republic, capturing demand from companies that have switched their operations to natural gas.

DPP’s revenue base is not diversified — it depends on selling electricity under long-term contracts to the state distribution companies — but the essential nature of power supply in the country keeps its cash flows stable. The 2024 audited accounts (issued April 2025 by Ernst & Young) confirm operations continue normally despite margin pressure from international gas prices.

What to watch

• Gas-price pass-through. DPP is directly exposed to international natural-gas price volatility; higher fuel costs raise the cost of generation and squeeze financial results.
• Contract renegotiations. Any adverse shift in the Dominican economy, or renegotiation of the long-term power-purchase contracts with the state distributors, could hurt revenues.
• Bond refinancing. With ~$259m in bonds on the balance sheet and a related-party loan of $52m, DPP’s cost of debt matters. Watch for any new bond issuance or rating actions at SIMV.
• Ownership evolution. After the December 2023 sale of a 20% stake to Dominican investors, AES sits at 65%. Any further dilution — or a full consolidation — would reshape the company’s governance and financing.

This is news, not investment advice.