$3.9 Billion Invested In New Power Generation Projects In Panama

About $3.9 billion dollars will be invested over the next four years for the construction of 22 new sources of power generation in Panama. These projects will generate approximately 1,061 megawatts (MW) to be added to the current installed capacity of about 1.208 MW – which is very close to the actual demand of 1,153 MW. The biggest investment will be in new hydroelectric projects that will be built at a cost of more than $1.7 billion dollars. In addition two wind farms will be built with an investment of $1 billion, and another $1.2 billion will be spent to build new thermal (bunker fuel burning) generation plants. Currently there are 19 hydroelectric projects under construction with a total installed capacity of 723.60 MW, 2 wind projects (330 MW) and one thermal plant with an approved licensed (8 MW), according to the Public Services Authority (ASEP).

There are already a total of 52 concessions for power generation through hydro, 25 grants and 20 temporary licenses for wind projects, and 3 provisional licenses thermal projects. The companies responsible for building and operating these projects are both foreign and domestic, chosen mostly by competitive bidding. “The expensive projects are usually foreign investment and the less expensive projects are generally domestic investment,” said Rodrigo Rodriguez, National Director of Electricity for the ASEP.

Projects: The most expensive hydroelectric project currently being built is located in Changuinola and being built by the company AES Changuinola S.A., with a cost of $600 million dollars. This project is 60% complete and is scheduled to begin operations in May 2011 with a generating capacity of 223.00 MW. The second most expensive project is valued at $193.28 million dollars, located on the Río Chiriquí Viejo under the auspices of the company Ideal S.A. This dam will generate 85.90 MW and as of March 2010 is about 25% built. The schedule for this project says it should begin operations in December 2011. The same company, Ideal S.A., will also build the third most expensive hydroelectric generation project, also on the Río Chiriquí Viejo, at a cost of $127.8 million dollars. This project is about 75% built and will generate about 56.80 MW. Meanwhile, the company Fersa Panama SA will build two wind farms located in the province of Coclé.

By: Tom Brymer

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