Nicaragua advances in clean energy
NSCAG News |
on: Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Origional source: nicanet.org
Tumarin dam construction ready to go
The president of Hydroelectrics Central of Nicaragua (CHN), Marcelo Conde, confirmed in August that construction of the Tumarin hydroelectric project is ready to begin as soon as the rainy season ends. Conde said that negotiations for compensation of property owners whose properties will be flooded by the reservoir behind the giant dam on the Rio Grande de Matagalpa have been completed. The project is in the municipality of La Cruz de Rio Grande in the South Atlantic Autonomous Region. Financing for the US$1.1 billion mega-project is in place from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration and the National Bank of Economic and Social Development of Brazil. It is projected that the renewable energy project, which will add 253 megawatts of electricity generation capacity and lower consumer energy costs, will pay for itself over 27 years. The project will continue the Sandinista government’s commitment to switch from petroleum-generated electricity to renewable sources including water, wind, and thermal.
31 july
In other energy news, Minister of Energy Emilio Rappaccioli announced that the La Fe-San Martin wind farm, built by Blue Power Energy, S.A., began a test run of its first five windmills (out of a total of 22) that will eventually provide 39.5 megawatts to the national electricity grid. Rappaccioli said that the test runs will probably last two or three weeks and if all goes well, the windmills will begin functioning commercially. This is the second wind farm built by Blue Power in Nicaragua; both of them are in the Department of Rivas. Each has involved an investment of between US$105 and US$115 million but together they are expected to save much more than that in lower costs for importation of petroleum. There are two other wind farms being built in Rivas, one by Mexican investors and the other by ALBA of Nicaragua.
