In the coming weeks an international tender will be launched to provide firm capacity and associated energy in order to meet demand in 2017.
Authorities at the Energy Regulatory Commission of Honduras (CREE) explained that it has not yet been defined how many MW will be in the tender, but "... in the electrical industry they are working on it being 180 MW in order to meet demand in 2017", reported Laprensa.hn.
The National Electricity Company is preparing a debt bond issue for 2017 of $150 million.
The resources obtained through sale of debt will be used to pay part of the debts generated with the entity's suppliers during the years 2014 and 2015, as authorized in the approved budget for 2017.
"...A financial report by the National Electricity Company reveals that debt payable to suppliers, mainly to private generators, is L9,645 million as of August 31 2016. "
The Regional Operating Agency is inviting bids for the execution of tests and field trials to validate and endorse parameters and control models in the SER and SEM generation units.
Purchase No. LP-EOR-02-2016:
"Running tests and field trials for validation and endorsement of the parameters and models of control equipment, modal and participation analysis (small signal disturbances) and calculation of adjustments to control equipment in SER and SEM generating units, in order to increase the mitigation of electromechanical oscillations which are poorly mitigated.
The National Electricity Company will have to convene a new tender to replace the four contracts for 520 MW of thermal energy maturing between 2017 and 2018.
In 2017 a contract for 80 MW with Elcosa and another for 240 MW with Lufussa will come to an end, while in 2018 a contract for 200 MW with Enersa will be finalised.The National Electricity Company will convene a new contest in which power generating companies based on natural gas, have expressed interest in participating.
As was done with distribution, the Honduran state run electricity company plans to hire a technical operator to be responsible for the improvements needed to the electricity transmission network.
Having hired a consortium, whose capital is mainly Colombian, to operate the power distribution system in the country for seven years, the National Electricity Company (ENEE), now intends to do the same for the maintenance of the electricity transmission network in next few months.
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.
The State of the Region indicates that the asymmetries between the most regulated markets such as Costa Rica and others that are freer such as Guatemala and El Salvador constitute an obstacle to progress of the regional market.
Regional Integration section, the V Report on the State of the Region:
The regional electricity market in the agenda of the integration process
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 bill proposes renewing renewable energy generation contracts automatically rather than calling new tenders.
The proposal to reform the General Electricity Industry Act, in force since 2014, claims that"... renewable energy contracts remain in force, but do not benefit from the incentive payment of 10% of the base price and annual adjustment for inflation", as established by current legislation."
Average prices for buying and selling on the spot market, quantities by contract and by spot price, amounts of predispatched MWh per hour, per day or for specific periods.
The regulator, Energía de la Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos de Costa Rica (ARESEP), has published a comprehensive online information system for the Costa Rican electricity market, with a section dedicated to the Regional Electricity Market.
Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica has announced that the increase of $0.15 to $0.17 in the price of Kwh will come into effect on May 1st.
Laprensa.hn explains that "...In percentage terms, the increase is 13.3%. In local currency, the price per kWh will increase from L3,43 to L3,86. "
"... The General Electricity Industry Act, which was passed by decree 404-2013 and published in the official newspaper La Gaceta, states that revisions to tariffs must be made every three months. "
A Finnish multinational company has resolved its electricity problems in Roatan Island with a generating plant based on propane gas.
The growth of tourism in the Bay Islands (Honduras' northern Caribbean) has made feasible a project by the Finnish company Wärtsilä to install a 28 MW power plant based on propane gas. The installed power capacity of Wärtsilä in Honduras is about 500 MW, representing 25% of the national capacity.
The Legislature has approved on their third reading contracts for wind power in a 3,615 MW project, an electrical project in La Ceiba and one in Colón.
From a statement issued by the National Congress of Honduras:
Congress approved on a third and final debate contract 70-2010 containing Annex 10, a support agreement to comply with a supply of 3,615 MW of associated energy from wind resources subscribed between the National Electricity Company (ENEE) and General Equipment Supply company S.A.
Transmission lines in the regional SIEPAC system are being used to distribute electricity internally in countries, curtailing their capacity for international exchange of energy.
When the US President Barack Obama visited Central America in 2013, he warned that "energy costs in this region are three times what electricity costs in Washington, and that represents a huge disadvantage for companies".Two years before that, all countries, from Guatemala to Panama, were committed to creating the necessary infrastructure for the Regional Electricity Market (MER) to be efficient.
The consortium with mainly Colombian capital won the contract to operate the distribution system to supply electricity to the state run power company for a period of seven years.
Under the terms of the concession, Consorcio Energía will invest about $358 million and reduce the losses of Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica by at least 17% over the term of the contract.