In the first three months of 2019, 14 environmental impact studies were presented in the countries of the region to perform work on electricity grids and develop power generation plants.
The interactive platform "Construction in Central America", compiled by the Trade Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData, includes an up to date list of public and private construction projects for which environmental impact studies (EIA) were submitted to the respective institutions of each country.
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.
Corporación AES El Salvador has announced that this year it will replace 50 thousand electromechanical meters with digital meters, and will increase the voltage of the energy supplied in the center of the capital.
Regarding the plan to raise the voltage from 4.16 Kv to 23 Kv in downtown San Salvador, representatives from the energy company explained that the increase will be made in order to respond to growth that has been registered in demand.
In 2016, the average cost of 1 kWh in Central America was 13.48 cents, while in Costa Rica, it was 18.47 cents.
A report from the CEPAL indicates that in 2016, the average cost of one kilowatt hour (kWh) in Central America was 13.48 cents, while in Costa Rica it was 18.47 cents; 37% more for industrial consumption of 100,000 kWh.In El Salvador and Guatemala, it was 11.03 and 11.54 cents respectively. In Panama, 10.92 cents.
It has been estimated that $200 million need to be invested in Central American countries to strengthen the transmission capacity of the regional electricity market.
A study prepared at the request of the Wholesale Market Manager of Guatemala (AMM) details that for the regional market to operate in a comprehensive way, countries must invest more in order to improve transmission capacity.According to Edgar Navarro, president of the AMM, this investment should be concentrated in Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Costa Rica.
AES and Engie have agreed to create a joint venture to market and sell liquefied natural gas to third parties in Central America.
The new company will use infrastructure of the Costa Norte LNG Terminal, which is currently under construction in Colón, Panama, owned 50/50 by AES and Inversiones Bahia.
The total capacity of Costa Norte LNG Terminal is approximately 1.5 million metric tons per year (mtpa), of which 25% will go to AES Colón's 380 MW combined cycle plant (CCGT), currently under construction at the same site.
Neoen has started operating the Providencia Solar photovoltaic power plant, located in the department of La Paz, with an installed capacity of 101 MW.
The plant is made up of two subcenters: one of 76MWc, awarded to Neoen after a tender convened in El Salvador in 2014, and another of 25MWc, negotiated by mutual agreement with Del Sur, one of the main electricity distribution companies in the country.Both projects have been uploading electricity to the Salvadoran grid since April 1, 2017.
The business sector states that the $53 million debt that the government has with the energy distribution company is preventing them from being able to pay generators, jeopardizing supply.
From a statement issued by the Salvadoran Association of Industrialists (ASI):
BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS WARN OF A CRISIS IN THE ELECTRICITY SECTOR IF THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT PAY THE SUBSIDY
Of the 169.9 MW awarded, 50 MW corresponds to wind energy at a price of $98.78 / MWh and the rest to photovoltaic solar generation projects, with prices of between $49.55 and $67.24 per MW / h.
From a statement issued by Delsur:
San Salvador, January 11, 2017.The Electricity Distribution company DELSUR, on behalf of other distributors in the country, the National Energy Council (CNE), the Promoter of Exports and Investments of El Salvador (PROESA), and the General Superintendency of Electricity and Telecommunications (SIGET) revealed today the companies that were awarded contracts after the evaluation stage of the economic proposals which represented the culmination of the process to tender 170 MW (megawatts) of power and associated energy using sources based on wind and photovoltaic generation.
It is estimated that in 2025 an average 1 MW ground mounted solar energy system will have an average cost of 73 cents per watt, 36% less than the current cost.
Advances in technology and growing experience in the manufacture of solar energy systems are contributing to the gradual reduction of their cost, giving them an advantage over other sources of power generation, such as fossil fuel.
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)":
A tender has been launched in El Salvador for the supply, for a period of 20 years starting from 2019, of 170 MW of power to be produced by non-conventional renewable technology.
The tender is for 170 MW of power generated exclusively from non-conventional renewable resources (solar and wind) and includes a contract for a period of 20 years starting from 2019.
The 380 MW natural gas plant to be built by AES in Panama promises to change the country's energy matrix, and the way energy is generated and distributed in Central America.
The economic flow that has already started with the construction of the gas plant in the province of Colon will be felt not only in the energy sector in Panama, which could become an energy generating and distribution hub in the region, but also in other productive sectors that will benefit from greater stability in energy costs and generate greater dynamism in logistics and shipping.
In Costa Rica, 19 projects were selected as "eligible" by the state run power company, but the same institution has ruled out opening new competitions to purchase more wind-generated power.
EDITORIAL
Investment in alternative energy is risky, because it depends on uncontrollable external factors such as unpredictable weather variations, which have particular effects on hydraulics, solar and wind power.