Acciona Energía will construct and operate the 49.5 MW wind power plant in Chiripa, north west Costa Rica.
The energy company was awarded the contract as a result of an invitation to tender held by Costa Rica's state-owned electricity and telecommunications provider (ICE).
Acciona Energía will sell the energy produced by the wind power plant to ICE for a period of 20 years as part of a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
On November 8th, the country's national electricity transmission company (ETESA in Spanish) will receive offers for the 14-year wind power contract.
The renewable energy contract is the first tender process of its kind carried out by the Panamanian government and has generated interest in investing in this technology.
"Wind energy generates most capacity when the impact of hydrology related effects is low, leading to huge savings in the cost of energy generated from burning oil," according to Prensa.com.
On 8th November, a tender for a new wind power plant, to be developed in the central provinces, will be launched.
The announcement was made by the National Secretary of Energy, Juan Manuel Urriola, at the opening of the IV Regional Integration Forum .
In addition, the strong winds in some areas of the country will be tapped by building the first wind project in the country, the tender process for which will start on November 8th.
At the opening of Cerro de Hula wind project in Honduras, the director of Mesoamérica Energy announced their willingness to invest in an additional 25 megawatts.
Mesoamerica Energy's director, Jay Gallegos told the press, "We have built about 80 percent this project, it is the largest in Central America and we want to invest in an additional 25 megawatts, which is an increase of one quarter."
Honduras has started testing at the Cerro de Hula wind project, valued at $270 million, which will generate 102 megawatts per year.
The works at the wind farm, the largest ever built in Central America began in late January, and have advanced faster than expected, according to a spokesperson from the presidential palace in Tegucigalpa.
The wind farm will consist of 51 Gamesa G87 generators, two megawatts each, mounted on 80 meter high towers which have three 40 meter blades. Tests have been conducted on 34 of the 51 wind turbines.
The company has selected the wind turbine manufacturer Vestas, to begin its project in Nicaragua.
Vestas received an order for the manufacture of 22 generating units of 1.8 MW each, for the wind project ‘La Fé’ (The Faith), which will generate 40 MW of energy and will be located in San Martin, Nicaragua.
The contract also includes maintenance of the turbines for five years and an operating system known as ‘Vestas Online Business SCADA’ which will start working when the plant starts operating.
The Ministry of Energy has evaluated the behavior of the wind in 16 areas, of which 10 have high potential for wind power generation.
Among the areas identified are Villa Canales (at the esates of La Concha, La Sabana and San Antonio) San Marcos (Matazano, Sparks, Estanzuela, Zacapa and El Rodeo estates), said Fabio Gudiel, deputy director general of the Ministry of Energy Energy and Mines.
The National Authority of Public Services, has granted a provisional license to Innovent Central America SA to operate the El Portrero wind farm, for generating electricity.
The order by the National Authority of Public Services in Panama states that permission was granted “ to the company called InnoVent CENTRAL AMERICA, SA 614,085 registered to the SPC, Document 1336614 of the Public Registry” and is for ‘a provisional license for the exploration, development and exploitation of wind resources of the project called El Potrero, to be located in the districts of Pajonal and Penonomé Penonomé district and province of Cocle, with an installed capacity of 54 MW, comprising 27 turbines of 2.00 MW each. The characteristics of that type wind power station are described in documents accompanying the application which rests in the National Authority of Public Services.’
Blue Power has signed a financing agreement for $80 million with Bicsa bank, for the completion of the project in Nicaragua.
Once completed, the Blue Power & Energy wind generation farm will be able to generate 39.6 megawatts of clean energy, which corresponds to annual savings of $22 million for the country, according to Emilio Rapaccioli, the energy minister.
Since the commissioning of a wind farm in Amayo two years ago, the country has saved $58 million in oil.
Production of the farm, the largest in Central America, is 250 million kilowatt hours per year, representing 11.6% of the total country's demand.
"The engineer and Amayo plant manager, Manuel Callejas Montenegro, said the energy produced by the wind farm is 40 percent cheaper than that produced by thermal generation plants.
The regulatory agency has authorized the company Eolo de Nicaragua S.A., to construct a wind farm in the department of Rivas.
According to the draft submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Marena), the new wind farm would be located in the town of Rivas on kilometer 123 of the Panamericana Sur Highway, near the wind farm Amayo.
Using an investment of over $240 million, five companies are preparing to start up wind farms.
Italians, Costa Ricans and a power supply company in the province of Heredia are some of those interested in generating power using the wind currents of Guanacaste.
The projects they soon plan to start have diverse generating capacities. For example, the Montes de Oro Wind Project, with an estimated investment of $23.7 million, will produce an output of 20 megawatts through eight wind generators on a 105 hectare farm.
At least 10 companies have already acquired the bidding rules ready to present bids on 28 October.
Among the companies interested in bidding is Centrans Energy which operates a wind farm in the Pacaya volcano area, which generates 50 MW and represents an investment of $125 million.
An article in Elperiodico.comgt states "The bidding rules require that at least 60 percent of the 800 MW must be generated by renewable power plants (hydroelectric, wind, solar, etc.) and a maximum of 40 percent for existing plants (bunker, diesel and coal) The traditional power plants can bid for contracts of up to 5 years, compared to the renewables whose contracts can be up to 15 years long."
The turbines of the Cerro de Hula wind power project will soon be tested for the first time.
The project is the fourth largest in Honduras and is expected to supply 6% of the country's energy needs by the end of the year. It is scheduled to begin in the coming months.
The first tests will be carried out in August and depending on the results, the wind farm could be operational at full capacity by December.
The Inter-American Investment Corporation approved a loan to Blue Power & Energy for development of the La Fe-San Martín wind farm.
The loan proceeds will enable BPE construction, commissioning and operation of 22 V90 Vestas generators of 1.8 MW each in Rivas, southwest Nicaragua. The wind park is expected to generate 138 GWh of electricity a year, contributing to an increase of over 5% of the country´s electricity consumption.