The clean energy project will be developed in Panama, in an area of more than three thousand hectares, using wind turbines that will generate electricity interconnected to the national grid through a substation.
CentralAmericaData's Commercial section provides an up-to-date list of public and private construction projects that have submitted Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) to the respective institutions in 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.
Last year, 87 environmental impact studies were submitted in the countries in the region, for the construction of power generation plants and works on electricity networks.
Panama is the country in the region where the largest investment is concentrated, with an approximate $1.29 billion in energy projects, corresponding to 32 environmental impact studies submitted to the Ministry of the Environment between January and December 2017.
Contracts with the winning companies in the tender for 170 MW of energy, involving the construction of the first wind farm in the country and three solar plants, are estimated to be worth $340 million.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Economy:
The Economy Minister Tharsis Solomon Lopez, presided over the signing of contracts which distribution companies in the country drew up for new power generation projects awarded as a result of the International Competitive Bidding.
In Panama a provisional license has been awarded to Innovent Central America S.A. for the construction and operation of a wind farm with installed capacity of 56 MW, in Cocle.
From the order issued by the National Authority of Public Services (ASEP):
In Costa Rica, 19 projects were selected as "eligible" by the state run power company, but the same institution has ruled out opening new competitions to purchase more wind-generated power.
EDITORIAL
Investment in alternative energy is risky, because it depends on uncontrollable external factors such as unpredictable weather variations, which have particular effects on hydraulics, solar and wind power.
In the last two years the country which is the Latin American champion in wind energy lost $63 million a year from purchasing wind MWh at $70 and having to resell it at $7.
EDITORIAL
We are in agreement with the need to contribute to the sustainability of human development on this planet, and the need to transform the energy matrix of countries in order to become less dependent on oil, but the balance of the cost of this transformation needs to be adequate, in order to avoid making the kind of mistakes committed by the government of Uruguay.
On January 1st, the Penonomé wind farm produced a fifth of all domestic electricity generation, or 5.1 GW/h.
According to the Electric Transmission Company, SA (Etesa), the Penonomé wind farm in the province of Cocle, broke the record for energy production on the first day of the year, after reaching an operating capacity of 197.5 megawatts (MW), 21.7% of the national requirement .
The Spanish companies Gamesa and Iberdrola Ingeniería have signed a contract with Globeleq Mesoamerica to build and operate four wind farms, each producing 20 MW each, in the province of Guanacaste.
The project is called Alisios and includes the construction and operation under the turnkey format, of four 20 MW plants: Vientos de La Perla and Vientos de Miramar, located in the region of Liberia, and Altamira and Campos Azules, in the Tilarán region.
The high cost of production exceeds the average sales price for energy, and almost doubles the average purchase price from its main supplier, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad.
An audit report by the Comptroller General of the Republic of Costa Rica said that the state wind power project run by the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz generated losses of just over $1 million, and that "inconsistencies were determined in revenues, costs and results of the indicators of financial viability of the project; specifically the quantity and value of the expected annual energy was overestimated; and investment costs, operation and maintenance were underestimated. Also, there was no evaluation of possible sources of finance for the investment, the financial effect on the CNFL SA of the established financing scheme, implementation, operation and acquisition of Parque Eólico Valle Central. "
An announcement has been made of the launch of a wind power generation plant built and operated by the company Terra Energy in San Marcos de Colón, in the department of Choluteca.
The plant has the capacity to generate 50 MW, with 25 wind turbines and is located south of the capital. The project required an investment of $100 million and was completed before the agreed time, three years.
The state-run National Power and Light Company is awaiting proposals from companies which would allow the reactivation of the San Buenaventura wind farm, which for now is not a profitable project.
Right now the project is in the process of reviewing costs and it has not yet been determined whether or not to continue with the work. The National Power and Light Company (CNFL) is waiting for new financially profitable, and concrete offers which adhere to the budget of the company in order to assess whether to reactivate the project.
The private sector disapproves the action taken by the Ministry of Energy to reduce the amount of energy generated from wind and bagasse which is injected to the national grid.
This measure which seeks to reduce the energy input of these sectors comes at a time when wind and bagasse plants are operating at full capacity, therefore there is a direct impact on their finances.
The World Bank has approved a loan of $300 million for the construction of the second and third stages of the Penonomé wind farm, which will have a capacity of 215 MW.
From a statement issued by the International Finance Corporation (IFC):
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has completed a financing package of $300 million for the construction of Phase II and III of the Penonomé Wind Farm, the largest wind project in Central America.
Of a potential of 1,000 MW of power generated through wind in the country, 101 MW will start to be generated from three wind projects which will start operations in May 2015.
The three projects referred to are those of the companies Viento Blanco which will generate 21 MW, Tresca, with 30MW, and the most advanced, Eólico San Antonio del Sitio, with 52.8 MW, which already has 90% of the necessary infrastructure for it to operate.