Banco Agromercantil de Guatemala announced a $43 million loan for the construction of part of the 54 MW Ventus wind farm to be located in the municipality of Metapán.
The deadline for the Panama NG Power to submit a clarification of financial information for the construction of the 670 MW natural gas plant was extended to December 26th.
After a judicial ruling was issued in December 2017 allowing Panama NG Power 150 days to prove that it has the economic capacity to develop the project, the process suffered several setbacks, because according to the company's interpretation, the deadline began on March 8, 2018, but the National Public Services Authority (Asep) stated it was expired at the beginning of June of this year.
Lack of legal certainty, electricity theft and social conflicts are forcing businessmen in Guatemala's energy sector to choose to relocate their investments to El Salvador.
Last year, the companies Applied Energy Services (AES) and Corporación Multi Inversiones (CMI), both US and Guatemalan capital, decided to invest $47 million in solar energy projects, encouraged by the facilities offered to the energy sector in El Salvador.
In Panama, Ingenio Alanje plans to invest $50 million in a sugarcane bagasse-based generation plant, with an installed capacity of 34 MW.
The sugar mill that processes 520,000 tons of cane per year is located in the village of El Tejar, district of Alanje, province of Chiriquí, and is planning to construct a biomass-based power plant, which is expected to be operational by the next harvest, in the summer of 2019.
The sugar mill union could be investing $160 million in energy generation projects that use ethanol and in the construction of a biomass-based power plant.
Without giving further details, members of the sugar trade union reported that they are planning to build a biomass power generation plant in the short term, which could be the most modern one in Central America.
In Panama, the Supreme Court of Justice has annulled an environmental impact study for a wind farm with 75 wind turbines, which was planned to be built in the Fortuna forest reserve.
Arguing that the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) should have been category III, instead of II, because it is within a protected area, the Third Chamber of the Court for contentious administrative proceedings decided to declare the resolution of 2014, "null for being illegal", a resolution which had approved the EIA submitted by the company Luz Eólica de Panamá.
For the third time, the contractor in charge of the Transmission Expansion Plan in Guatemala, will not meet the deadline to finalize the works.
The amount of progress on the Electric Expansion Plan (PET), whose contract was awarded to the Colombian company Trecsa more than seven years ago, is only 66%.The project was supposed to have been be ready and in operation since 2013, but the company contracted asked the governments in office at the time for two extensions - in 2013 and 2015.
After suspending two power supply contracts with Bocas del Toro Energía and Coal Power, Etesa has announced that before the end of the year it will hire other generators to supply the 300 MW.
The contract with Bocas del Toro Energía, which included the Brazilian company Odebrecht, was canceled by mutual agreement, after the revelation of the corruption scandals in which the Brazilian company was involved.This energy supply contract was for 150 MW and the project had not yet started development.
The need for Panama to renew its power generation matrix has become a source of new business for companies in the sector and also for banking.
The project to build a 670 MW gas plant in the province of Colon, being run by the company Panama NG Power, is the best example of the potential for development that the Panamanian electricity market has, which has already drawn the attention of banks.
The signing of the FTA with China could open up opportunities for Korean companies to sell turbines to hydro electric stations and invest in energy projects which use other sources.
Kwang Seok Rhee, vice president of the Korean Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), one of the largest energy companies in South Korea, visited Guatemala as part of a new round of FTA negotiations and told Dca.gob.gt that ".
In August, the national installed capacity amounted to 3,013 MW, comprising of 28% hydro power using reservoir technology, 29% run over river hydro, 35% thermal, 7% wind and the rest was photovoltaic.
From a report by the National Public Services Authority:
I. INSTALLED CAPACITY AND FIRM CAPACITY BY AGENT AND BY PLANT
The National Electricity Company is preparing the specifications to tender 60 MW in the regional market and 120 MW in the local market in early 2017.
Authorities at the National Electricity Company (ENEE) plan to contract out 180 MW of firm power, for which reason they are ruling out offers that come from power plants based on solar and wind power.
Of the 34,629 GWh generated in 2015 by the countries included in SICA, 68% came from hydropower, 11% from cogeneration in sugar mills, 11% was geothermal, 9% wind and 0.1% based on biogas.
From a report by Cepal entitled "Statistics of electricity production by countries in the Central American Integration System (SICA)":
On October 20th and 21st entrepreneurs from the region will gather together in Panama City to discuss issues such as the electricity market rules, new and renewable energy projects.
From a statement issued by the International Symposium on Energy:
This year the 8th. International Symposium on Energy seeks to promote spaces for reflection on energy issues, to help analyze the performance and limitations of developing new projects, build consensus, define the options for the energy market and, finally, develop a social impact using the media.
The Ambassador of Brazil has announced that the funds are now available and they will be starting the primary work of the controversial project, which would be ready to operate in February 2019.
Reports state that the delay in the construction of the project occurred because the government had not signed the generation and construction permits. They would have started building camps as a pre-stage to construction of the first phase of the plant.