The Association of Municipalities of La Paz Center in Honduras are putting out to tender the construction of two Rural Electrification Projects.
Honduras Government Purchase LPN-MAMCEPAZ-2015
"Construction of Rural Electrification Project Connected to the Network Located in the community of "San Martin", Municipality of San José (Cod. 104768), Department of La Paz."
The South Korean company says it will be investing $300 million in public infrastructure, including works on electrification, renewable energy projects and hospital infrastructure.
For the construction of a hospital in Choluteca the multinational Samsung plans to invest $35 million, while for the electrification in rural areas and renewable energy projects it has estimated it will spend $40 million and $45 million respectively.
The National Assembly has approved a loan from the European Investment Bank to expand electricity coverage in rural areas.
The government plans to implement the project in 3000 rural communities in different areas of the country, including the Caribbean coast. With this investment in the power grid coverage is expected to increase in rural areas from its current 64% to 86%.
An announcement has been made that the conditions for the tender for 574 kilometers of power lines will be released on July 31.
The work comprises of "... 29 new substations, expansion of 25 new lines and more than 12 adaptations, establishing 574 kilometers of electricity transmission, divided into 5 lots covering the national territory."
In 2013 63% of the electrical energy fed into the transmission networks in the region was generated from renewable sources.
From a report entitled "Central America: production statistics for the electricity subsector, 2013", prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC):
"... The production of electricity in the six countries amounted to 45,735 GWh, 3.3% higher than in 2012.
With a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank and through means of public-private investments electricity network coverage will be expanded in rural areas.
From a statement issued by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB):
"The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced the approval of a loan of U.S. $20 million to Panama to finance a rural electrification program that will encourage public and private investment to provide services to more than 100,000 rural households.
The government is building eight substations and is looking for funding to develop eight more in different regions.
At the moment in Nicaragua 8 electric substations are under construction and another eight are planned for 2016. The Government of the country is looking for funding for these projects, whose cost is estimated at $27 million.
The country needs these 16 electrical substations "for electricity projects being run as part of the Sustainable Electrification and Renewable Energy (NPHS) project to improve the electricity connections in the Pacific."
Empresa Nacional de Transmisión Eléctrica has taken out a $48 million loan from South Korea for new substations and distribution lines.
From a press release by Empresa Nacional de Transmisión Eléctrica (Enatrel):
The Government through Empresa Nacional de Transmisión Eléctrica (Enatrel) has signed a cooperation contract with company representatives from DAEWOO International Corporation and Hyundai Engineering, Company Limited, in the amount of $25 million, resources which are to be invested in building the new substations El Sauce, in the department of León, and Ocotal, Nueva Segovia, and also in the expansion of substations San Ramon, Matagalpa and Esteli, in the department of Estelí. In addition assembly of transmission 138 kV (kilovolt) lines will be made to link these to the National Interconnected Electrical Substation .
The National Institute of Electrification in Guatemala is putting out to tender maintenance services for transmission lines.
The Instituto Nacional de Electrificación, INDE, through Empresa Transporte y Control de Energía Eléctrica is interested in receiving offers for the contract for "MAINTENANCE SERVICE FOR TRANSMISSION LINES".
The deadline for submission of bids is February 26, 2014.
Through the Electric Interconnection System for Central America costs incurred from thermal generation in the country could be cut.
Accelerating the implementation of renewable energy projects or buying the shortfall in energy in the regional market rather than renewing contracts that are expiring with thermal generators are the alternatives being proposed by the private sector to "lower pressure" on finances of the National Electricity Company (ENEE) .
A new project on opening up the market for electricity generation adds confusion to the government's intentions on this matter.
The Government of Costa Rica could propose a new project to open the electricity sector that would join the six already lined up in the Legislature.
Ameliarueda.com reports that "one week before the beggining of the special session, a time when the government sets the agenda for projects in the Legislature, lawmakers have asked the Presidential Palace to define its intentions regarding the opening up of this sector ".
The transport of electricity between El Salvador and Guatemala through the Electrical Interconnection System for the Countries of Central America is limited to 170 MW.
This is despite the fact that the Electric Interconnection System for Central American Countries (Siepac) has capacity to transmit 300 MW, said Luis Herrera, manager of the Wholesale Market Administrator (AMM) in Guatemala.
Guatemala is the most interested country in speeding up regulation establishing the model of firm contracts within the regional electricity market.
This was explained by Guatemalan Vice Minister of energy, Edwin Rodas.
The idea of this is to harness the Electrical Interconnection System for Central America (Siepac) not only for the sale of energy to other countries, but also to provide telecommunications services over optical fibers which these lines have.
The implementation of the regulations to harmonize the national and regional electricity markets is still pending.
Last May saw the publication of the Regulation on Regulatory Harmonization between the National Electricity Market and the Central American Electricity Market (MEN and MER, respectively). This established that the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) would communicate the decision which would be taken regarding the assignment of the system operator and market operator to the Regulatory Authority for Public Services (Aresep), 30 days after publication.
New hydropower stations have increased installed capacity within Panama to 1,200 MW, but the two existing transmission lines can carry only 600 MW.
Although there is a bidding process to build a third transmission line, it is making slow progress, and the date of opening of financial proposals is still not known.
In addition, the evaluation committee at Empresa de Transmisión Eléctrica, S.A.