It has been announced that thirty companies, including Enel Green Power, have expressed interest in participating in the tender to supply natural gas, valued at $800 million.
From a statement issued by the Presidency of El Salvador:
About 30 companies are interested in participating in the tender to find a supplier of gas for power generation in the investment project run by the company Energías del Pacífico, to produce more than 350 megawatts of power, said the Technical and Planning Secretary of the Presidency of the Republic, Roberto Lorenzana.
At the request of the three companies interested in the 213 MW work, the deadline for submitting bids has been extended until May 6.
May 6 is the date for receipt of the proposals from the three companies interested in the design, financing, construction and operation of the hydroelectric dam Changuinola II, in the province of Bocas del Toro.
Prensa.com reports: "Interested companies have expressed concern about potential claims that could be brought AES Panama, three years ago they lost the concession to develop Chan II, after which the State, through the National Authority of Public Services, determined that if this entity built the hydroelectric station it would control over 40% of energy generation in the country, which is prohibited by Law 6 of February 3, 1997 which regulates the electricity sector. "
The Changuinola II project has been reopened and on April 25 proposals for its design, financing, construction and operation will be received.
On April 25, the Empresa de Generación Eléctrica (Egesa) will receive proposals from those interested in the design, financing, construction and operation of the hydroelectric station Chan II, which will produce 213.6 MW, fed from waters of the Changuinola River in the province of Bocas del Toro.
Enel Guatemala has been authorized to develop and operate for a period of 50 years, the 137 MW hydroelectric project La Cascata.
The Ministry of Energy and Mines has authorized Enel Guatemala to develop and operate for a period of 50 years, the hydroelectric project La Cascata in Huehuetenango. The project will generate 137 MW using the flow of the river Quisil.
LaGeo could exploit geothermal energy in a new well located in San Vicente, generating 30 to 40 megawatts.
The company LaGeo invested about $24 million in the exploration which led to the discovery of the new geothermal source.
As outlined in an article in Eleconomista.net, the Executive Hydroelectric Commission of the Lempa River (CEL), a partner in the LA GEO which belongs to the Italian company Enel, states that "a possible plant could generate more than $37 million in annual revenues for the company."
While in other Central American countries there is a boom in projects for clean energy generation, in the past three years El Salvador has not registered any.
According to data from Bloomberg, for the past three years, El Salvador has not recorded any investment in clean or renewable energy, its last investment was made in 2007, when it invested $45 million.
Latin America is one of the most promising renewable energy markets for Enel Green Power, which plans to invest more than 2 billion Euros by 2016 for the development of renewable energy in the region.
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.
Enel Green Power says there is room to diversify sources of energy in Central America .
Representatives of the company, which has presence in Brazil, Mexico and Chile, have shown interested in developing geothermal projects in Guatemala, where they are diversifying the development of energy sources.
Legal stability, foreign investment protection and a business friendly environment are the elements that companies such as Enel are looking for in order to bring their business to Central America.