An environmental impact study has been submitted in Panama to develop a power plant based on liquefied gas in Cristobal, province of Colon, with total power of 762 MW.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) submitted to the Ministry of Environment in October 2015 by Gas Natural del Atlántico S. de R.L., indicates that the development called "Proyecto Costa Norte", will be located in the province of Colon, district of Colon, department of Cristobal.
The Maritime Authority has signed an agreement with the Port of Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA, as part of the strategy to attract new customers within the logistics sector for liquefied natural gas.
From a statement issued by the Panama Canal Authority:
The Panama Canal has signed a cooperation agreement with the Port of Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States, as part of the strategy to attract new customers in the market for liquefied natural gas (LNG) taking advantage of the benefits afforded by use of the expanded Canal.
The government has announced its interest in measuring the commercial potential of any possible deposits while projecting a center for regional distribution for Liquefied Natural Gas.
Projections are that new permits will be granted for oil and gas exploration in the province of Darien and on the Caribbean coast.
Victor Urrutia, Secretary of Energy, told Prensa.com that "...
The National Public Services Authority has revoked the final license granted to Panama NG Power for the construction and operation of a power plant in the province of Colón.
From the order given by the National Authority for Public Services in Panama (ASEP):
It is resolved:
"... FIRST: DECLARE CANCELED the Final License granted to the company NG POWER PANAMA, SA, registered in the Public Registry on Listing 691,187 of Document 1725036 of the Microfilm Section (Mercantile), by Resolution No.7333 AN-Elec of 6 May 2014, as amended by Resolution No.7369 AN-Elec on May 21, 2014, to develop a project for thermal generation using natural gas for electricity generation, called Telfers, to be located in the town of Cristobal, in the district and province of Colon, with an installed capacity of 670 MW. "
The company will sell power at 13/100 a kilowatt hour through a contract with a term from March 1, 2017 to February 29, 2036.
Prensa.com reports that "the company will sell power at 13 cents per kilowatt hour. This was the only offer received in the tender by Etesa whose parameters were criticized by business groups, after two addenda were included establishing that proposals could only be made by companies that posses a permanent or temporary license. "
Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica announced that it is preparing a tender for the supply of 300 MW of coal-fired power.
According to the manager of Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica (ENEE), Emil Hawit, "we want to launch a tender for 300 megawatts of coal and the team is preparing the specifications. All ENEE technicians are working on this and then a Central American consultant will be hired.
The Panama company NG Power was the only bidder in the tender to generate electricity from natural gas for 20 years at a price of 8 cents per kilowatt hour.
"The prices are pretty good. We will take the necessary steps to make a final decision for the contracts," said Fernando Marciscano CEO of the Empresa de Transmisión Eléctrica, S.A. (Etesa), while downplaying criticism of the bidding process in light of the fact that at last moment only temporarily or permanently licensed firms were allowed to participate, when the tender had originally been open," noted an article in Prensa.com .
The documents for the tender involving investments of hundreds of millions of dollars underwent significant changes at the last minute.
"This is one of the largest businesses in the energy industry in Panama: a contract that involves the construction of a plant which may require an investment of over one billion dollars, and through which energy will be provided for the period from March 2017 to February 2036," reported Prensa.com.