Latin America is a rapidly expanding market, where it is expected that energy demand will have an average annual growth of 3.5% by 2020.

To meet this growing demand, "renewables will play an important role and we have about 830 MW of renewable capacity in operation, capable of producing over 3.4 million kilowatt hours of energy with zero emissions," said Enel Green Power (EGP)’s area manager for Iberia and Latin America Maurizio Bezzeccheri in a recent interview.

Bezzeccheri explained that hydroelectricity "provides 70% of the generation, but the contribution of biomass and geothermal are becoming increasingly significant, while wind and solar have huge growth potential."

Source: Enel Green Power

More on this topic

Renewable Energy Projects for $916 million  

June 2013

El Salvador announced a renewable energy investment plan which will increase the share of this type of power to 70% of the energy matrix.

The President of the Executive Hydroelectric Commission of the Lempa River (CEL), Leopoldo Samour, explained that "this will increase energy production by approximately 300 megawatts, coming from use of our natural resources and in order to do this we are planning a global investment of $916 million. "

Obama Could Bring Clean Energy Investments.

April 2013

In his meeting with the Central American presidents, President Obama could raise the matter of potential investments in the region by specialist U.S. companies in the sector.

In Central America, most of the investments in electricity generation with plants based on renewable resources, so far have been from Europe.

ENEL has $127 million to Invest in El Salvador

July 2011

Since litigation began in 2008 regarding the funding of LaGeo, investment plans in El Salvador have ben stalled, but are now coming back into effect.

An article in Laprensagrafica reports that the company Enel will invest $127 million in El Salvador next year as part of the original plan which was based on an agreement with shareholders that the Italian company would provide more capital, in exchange for just over 50% of the shares of the geothermal company LaGeo. This investment plan has been frozen since 2008 after ENEL began arbitration proceedings against ENEL Investment Energy (INE) and the Lempa River Hydroelectric Executive (CEL) because they wouldnt allow the funding.

Panama to Invest $ 4.377 Million in Energy

November 2010

The number includes the total investment for the electricity sector between 2010 and 2015.

The $ 4,377 million represents 22.5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009.

"The bulk will be hydro generation with $ 2.655 million with a contribution to the electrical grid of about 841 megawatts, half the country's current installed capacity," published Prensa.com.