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.
Banco Agromercantil de Guatemala announced a $43 million loan for the construction of part of the 54 MW Ventus wind farm to be located in the municipality of Metapán.
On a 98-hectare site in the province of Chiriquí, InterEnergy launched a solar park with a generating capacity of 40 MW, which required a $48 million investment.
The new power generation park, called Ikakos, will transport the electricity produced to the Mata de Nance substation through a 13.7-kilometre-long transmission line.
According to company representatives, the new power plant located in David has 138,960 solar panels and will contribute 84.58 GW per hour to Panama's energy matrix.
In El Salvador, twelve renewable energy generation projects with a total capacity of 23 MW are preparing to start operations between 2018 and 2020.
The National Energy Council (CNE) reported that the dozen energy generation projects, which will begin operations in the period between 2018, 2019 and 2020, will have the capacity to supply electricity to 771.350 households in the country.
Lack of legal certainty, electricity theft and social conflicts are forcing businessmen in Guatemala's energy sector to choose to relocate their investments to El Salvador.
Last year, the companies Applied Energy Services (AES) and Corporación Multi Inversiones (CMI), both US and Guatemalan capital, decided to invest $47 million in solar energy projects, encouraged by the facilities offered to the energy sector in El Salvador.
In Panama, Ingenio Alanje plans to invest $50 million in a sugarcane bagasse-based generation plant, with an installed capacity of 34 MW.
The sugar mill that processes 520,000 tons of cane per year is located in the village of El Tejar, district of Alanje, province of Chiriquí, and is planning to construct a biomass-based power plant, which is expected to be operational by the next harvest, in the summer of 2019.
The Congress of Costa Rica has finally approved a $500 million loan for the state electricity company to carry out electric generation and transmission works, including three geothermal plants.
Of the total amount of the loan with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved by the Legislative Assembly, close to $200 million will be used to finance the Pailas II, 50 MW, and Borinquen I, 55 MW geothermal projects, both in Liberia, Guanacaste.
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.
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 biomass power generation plant in the short term, which could be the most modern one in Central America.
In Panama, the Supreme Court of Justice has annulled an environmental impact study for a wind farm with 75 wind turbines, which was planned to be built in the Fortuna forest reserve.
Arguing that the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) should have been category III, instead of II, because it is within a protected area, the Third Chamber of the Court for contentious administrative proceedings decided to declare the resolution of 2014, "null for being illegal", a resolution which had approved the EIA submitted by the company Luz Eólica de Panamá.
In El Salvador industrialists state that capacity to generate energy is not lacking, what is needed is investment to improve capacity of the transmission lines.
In the opinion of the Salvadoran Association of Industrialists, the expansion proposal presented by the Salvadorian Transmission Company (Etesal) is fundamental in order to be able to upload the energy that will be generated from new projects, such as thesolar power plant that is planned for construction in Usulutánor thenatural gas plantthat Energía del Pacífico plans to build in Acajutla.
Panama NG Power has been given authorization to postpone until 2020 the start-up of operations of the natural gas-based generation plant to be built in Cristóbal, in the province of Colón.
The energy supply contracts signed between Panama NG Power and the energy distributors Edemet, Ensa and Edechi were modified so that the start-up of the natural gas plant could be postponed until 2020.
In May, 56% of energy came from renewable sources, of which 72% was from hydroelectric power.
From the Energy Monitor June 2017, by Agexport: Historical Average Monthly Spot Price (US $ / KWh) The behavior of the SPOT Price for the month of May varied with respect to the previous 4 months in 2017, since at the moment it is the lowest that has been reached in the year, standing at 59.52 USD / kWh.This represents a decrease of 8% in relation to the year 2016. According to historical behavior, during the months of May, due to climatic and generation conditions, the monthly price has always been higher than the annual average.
In Panama a bill has been put to public consultation that establishes a legal framework for developing the activity of importing natural gas, its storage, local distribution and re-export.
The bill declares the promotion and development of the provision of a public natural gas service in the country to be of public and national interest.The import, export and re-export of natural gas are declared as activities of general interest.
Approval has been given to the tender document to contract energy and firm power for the province of Darién, the Guna Yala region and the archipelagos of Las Perlas and San Blas.
The tender, to be published in PanamaCompra, is to contract Firm Power and Required Energy for Isolated Systems, located in the province of Darién, Guna Yala District, Las Perlas Archipelago and San Blas Archipelago, for the periods between September 1,2018 to June 30,2030, and from July 12020 to June 30,2030.