As of February 2018, Costa Rica had an installed solar capacity of 27 MW, which is equivalent to only 0.76% of the equipment interconnected in the National Electric System.
According to a study carried out by the Costa Rican Solar Energy Association (Acesolar), whose final results will be published next month, Costa Rica is lagging behind in the use of solar energy, even compared to other Central American countries.
From June 5 to 9, companies from the energy industry will be gathering together in San Pedro Sula to take part in business conferences and discuss issues that are relevant to the sector.
The initiative is being run by state entities and the private sector, and will take place between June 5 and 9 at the Convention Center of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Cortés (CCIC) in San Pedro Sula.
The union of industrialists in Costa Rica claims to have detected an error in the electricity rates calculated by the state electricity company, the ICE, which presented their rates as being competitive with the US and Canada.
According to the information that the ICE presented on March 20, in all 14 consumption bands that it said were cheaper than the United States the opposite is true, the ICE's rate was cheaper because it used the exchange rate for the Canadian dollar the wrong way around.
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.
The sugar mill union could be investing $160 million in energy generation projects that use ethanol and in the construction of a biomass-based power plant.
Without giving further details, members of the sugar trade union reported that they are planning to build a biomasspower generation plant in the short term, which could be the most modern one in Central America.
While one candidate is willing to review the limits on private electricity cogeneration, and raise them from 15% to 30%, the other rejects the possibility of extracting natural gas due to its environmental implications.
In a meeting with companies in the Chamber of Industries of Costa Rica (ICRC), the two candidates who will go head to head in a second round of voting on April 1, shared their proposals to deal with issues of great importance to the industrial sector, such as electricity rates and the opening up of the electricity market, as well as the management of procedures in State institutions.
In the last 20 years sugar mills in Guatemala increased their energy generation from 160 MW to 700 MW, and currently their contribution is equivalent to 27% of the energy matrix.
The union for the sector estimates that over the last decades mills have invested around $820 million in the generation of electric power.
With these investments yields have improved, as according to figures from the Association of Independent Cogenerators of Guatemala (ACI) for " ... every ton of ground cane, the mills used to be able to generate 44 kilowatt hours (kWh), but with the research development they generate 91 kWh."
Price of the gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $4.02, Honduras $3.68, Nicaragua $3.61, El Salvador $3.24, Guatemala $3.21, and Panama $2.97.
From a report by the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador:
The drop in fuel prices is largely due to record US oil production, which for a second consecutive week exceeded 10 million barrels placing it as the second largest producer in the world below Russia; as well as an increase in exports, a reduction of imports and the strengthening of the dollar in the raw material markets at an international level.[GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with graph"]
In 2017, electric energyexports totaled $103 million, 104% more than was sold in 2017, reversing the falls registered in the two previous years.
According to figures from the Banco de Guatemala, over the past year the country sold abroad a monthly average $8.5 million worth of electricity, with the Central American region being the main destination market.
Construction projects for water treatment plants, and extensions to the Metro and the airport, are works that will considerably increase demand for electricity in the coming years.
Price of gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $3.98, Nicaragua $3.80, Honduras $3.71, Guatemala $3.32, El Salvador $3.32 and Panama $2.99.
From a report by the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador:
The United States reported its second increase in its oil inventories on February 7 of this year, in which its production reached a record of 10.25 million barrels per day (bpd) in the last week, as reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA); where an 11 week downward streak was reversed, affected by low temperatures and the holiday season.
The state electricity transmission company is considering not holding any more special tenders for generators that use renewable resources, which will have to compete with all types of generators.
Representatives from the Electricity Transmission Company (Etesa) reported that with the modifications that are being made to the law, in future tenders for energy supply will compete with all other kinds of generation forms.
The National Electrification Institute in Guatemala (Instituto Nacional de Electrificación de Guatemala) is putting out to tender dam security tests at the Chixoy hydroelectric plant.
Price of gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $3.93, Nicaragua $3.74, Honduras $3.63, Guatemala $3.31, El Salvador $3.29 and Panama $2.99.
From a report by the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador:
The harsh winter that has hit the United States has caused an increase in the production of energy generated frompetroleumderivatives, which is used for heating, as well as the general consumption of derivatives in the North American country, which has contributed to a decrease in reserves in the United States.[GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with graph"]
With 19% endemic poverty, 10% open unemployment and 40% informal employment, and some of the highest electricity rates in the region, Costa Rica is opposed to $1 billion in clean energy investments.
EDITORIAL
By Jorge Cobas González
Meanwhile, the bureaucracy of state-owned companies continues to prescribe first-world remuneration, and continues to protect its privileges following ECLAC development concepts from the middle of the last century, which are utterly out of place today.Because Costa Rica does not have the investment capacity or know-how necessary for the development of latest generation renewable energy projects, even though it has all of the necessary primary conditions: sun, wind, thermal energy.
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