General Electric (NYSE: GE) Sells Two Power Plants to Venezuela, Totaling $600 Million

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) will be building two power plants in the country of Venezuela, which are expected to cost $600 million to produce and will generate 800 megawatts of energy, according to Basic Industries and Mining Minister Rodolfo Sanz.

The first of the two power plants will generate 440 MW of electricity and is currently being constructed at steel company SIdor. Sanz said that the first plant will begin operations in June.

The two plants that are being build to make basic industries like Sidor independent of the country’s National Interconnected System (SIN), which receives about 70% of its electricity from the Guri dam, according to the minister.

The dam has been troubled this year by the worst drought in the country since 1947, causing water levels to fall dramatically and reducing energy output. Venezuela’s rainy season will begin and May, unless the El Nino weather pattern continues to persist past May, which would prolong the drought.

Venezuela’s national government expects the two new power plants to provide an 880 MW cushion which could be fully or partially directed to the country’s power grid if problems continue at the Guri dam.

Parts for the second power plant are expected to arrive during the middle of May, with completion expected about two months later, according to Sanz.