The private sector believes that Ortega's creation of new state-owned companies to exploit oil and import and market gas and fuel will generate dumping in the country.
On February 11, the Law creating the Nicaraguan Gas Company (Enigas), the Law creating the Nicaraguan Company for hydrocarbon storage and distribution facilities (Eniplanh), the Law creating the national company for the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons (ENIH) and the Law creating the Nicaraguan company for the import, transportation and commercialization of hydrocarbons (Enicom) were approved as a matter of national urgency.
The La Unión and San Diego sugar mills were some of the companies that won contracts to supply energy to EEGSA for the next five years.
For the first of the five years, from March 27, 2020 to April 30, 2021, the San Diego sugar mill was awarded 58 MW, Orazul 30 MW, La Unión 13 MW, San José 10 MW, Tecnoguat 8 MW and the National Institute of Electrification (Inde) one MW.
Through the creation of four new state-owned companies, President Ortega seeks to control the exploration and exploitation of oil in Nicaragua, as well as the import, storage, distribution and marketing of gas and fuels.
With the approval of the law initiatives, the government seeks to transfer the control that Alba de Nicaragua S.A. used to have in this market.
Mainly determined by the performance of the energy supply from thermal sources, between January and November 2018 and the same period in 2019, electricity generation in Panama grew by 3%.
According to the most recent report of the General Comptroller of Panama, 10,173 million kWh were generated in the first eleven months of 2019, which is equivalent to a 3% increase over the 9,877 million kWh offered in the same period in 2018.
As a result of the debt that the National Electric Energy Company has with the generators, the business sector fears that in 2020 there will be rationing in the supply of electricity.
For the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise (Cohep), it urges that the Honduran government cancel the debt to the power generators, which totals about $568 million. If the obligations are not paid, severe service rationing could be reported in the middle of next year, according to productive sector forecasts.
The reform proposal to Nicaragua's Energy Stability Law contemplates the elimination of the tax on the purchase and sale of electricity for users who generate their own energy and decide to market their surpluses.
On November 21, the Ortega administration sent to the National Assembly the initiative, which seeks to exonerate from the marketing tax, generators who sell their surplus electricity to Disnorte-Dissur.
From November 20 to 22, the second edition of the Gas and Energy Summit of the Americas will be held in Panama City, where topics related to the financing of energy projects will be discussed.
The second edition of the Gas and Energy Summit of the Americas will combine conferences on strategic topics with high-level government presentations, thematic debates on innovative content, as well as discussion panels for the collective construction of solutions, led by prominent figures from the regional and global energy sector, informed the Ministry of Commerce and Industries (MICI).
AES and Corporación Multi Inversiones inaugurated a 10 megawatt solar power plant in Guazapa, El Salvador.
The plant was inaugurated on 29 October and forms part of the Bosphorus project, which consists of the commissioning of 10 power generation parks of 10 MW each.
In Guatemala, starting in February 2020, the small and medium-sized commercial, service and industrial businesses that receive EEGSA's service will be charged new tariffs, which will vary according to the schedule in which the companies consume energy.
Empresa Eléctrica de Guatemala, S.A. (EEGSA), which distributes electricity service in the departments of Guatemala, Escuintla and Sacatepéquez, reported that to implement the changes in the calculation of bills it invested $10 million in the purchase of smart meters, which are necessary to apply hourly rates.
The company AES Panama launched its liquefied natural gas storage system in the province of Colon, from where it plans to supply the entire Central American region.
This liquefied natural gas (LNG) distribution system will supply the 381 MW thermal plant located on site, also owned by AES, which began operating in August 2018.
Between January and August 2018 and the same period in 2019, electricity generation from hydraulic sources in Panama decreased by 40%.
According to the latest report of the General Comptroller's Office of Panama, in the first eight months of 2019 7,436 million kWh were generated, which is equivalent to a 3.3% increase over the 7,200 million offered in the same period of 2018.
In Guatemala, the Central American Electric Carrier announced that the works it carries out in sections of the electrical network in Escuintla, Jutiapa, Chiquimula and Santa Rosa, whose global investment reaches $40 million, are about to operate.
Representatives of the company Transportista Eléctrica Centroamericana, S.A. (Trelec), affiliated to Empresa Eléctrica de Guatemala, S.A.
Between October this year and January 2019, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad expects to reduce tariffs by more than 10% in regions such as Limón, Zona Sur, Pacífico Central, sectors of Guanacaste and the Greater Metropolitan Area.
The first reduction, of 2.8%, has been in force since October 1 and is explained by the fall in thermal backup consumption.
From January to June 2019, 52 environmental impact studies were presented to carry out works on electricity networks and build power generation plants in different areas of Central American countries.
The interactive platform "Construction in Central America", compiled by the Business 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.
In the province of Peravia, in the Dominican Republic, the Matafongo wind farm, which has 17 wind turbines with two MW of unitary power, began operations.
Matafongo Wind Farm has 17 wind turbines with two megawatts of nominal unitary power, each of them has installed a transformer that raises the generation voltage (690 V) to the internal transport of the farm (34.5 kV), informed the presidency of the country.