Nicaragua’s green energy nearly reaches 50 percent of total demand

Jan. 13, 2012 - PRLog -- The Ministry of Energy (MEM, for its acronym in Spanish) announced that Nicaragua recently covered 48 percent of the nation’s energy demand through renewable sources, producing 219.8 megawatts of power through its wind, hydroelectric, biomass and geothermal energy plants.

Energy generation from renewable sources covered nearly 50 percent of Nicaragua´s energy demand, while two years ago it only covered 30 percent. Contributing significantly to this accomplishment is the 36 megawatt San Jacinto Tizate geothermal plant, administered by Polaris Energy Nicaragua.

The National Energy Dispatch Center (CNDC, for its acronym in Spanish) recorded a maximum demand of 525 megawatts, of which approximately 220 were produced by renewable generation plants.

The generation of energy in the country is broken down as follows: geothermal energy with 15.72 percent, led by the San Jacinto Tizate and Momotombo plants; followed by biomass with 13.14 percent, contributed by the country’s sugar cane mills; 12.23 percent generated by the Central America and Carlos Fonseca hydroelectric plants; and wind energy with a 7.32 percent contribution, led by the Amayo wind turbine park.

The Government of Nicaragua has set the goal of reducing the country's dependence on hydrocarbons to 4 percent of the energy generation matrix by the year 2017 and is therefore prioritizing the granting of concessions to generate energy from renewable sources.

Additionally, important investments in the renewable energy sector will continue to contribute to shifting the country’s energy matrix. HEMCO recently announced its plans to invest a total of US$50.5 million in the installation of two renewable energy projects in Nicaragua that will have the capacity of generating 20 megawatts. Other projects include the wind energy plants Blue Power and Aeolus and hydroelectric plants Hidropantasma, Larreynaga and Tumarín.

Other important companies that have invested in Nicaragua’s energy sector include AEI Energy, Ormat, Ram Power, Andrade Gutierrez and Queiroz Galvao. These investments have been driven mainly due to the country’s richness in natural resources, a solid legal framework, attractive fiscal incentives, economic stability and the establishment of the SIEPAC Network, which will allow Nicaragua to sell energy to the rest of the region.

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PRONicaragua is the Nicaraguan Investment Promotion Agency, established in 2002. It is a non-profit, public-private institution whose mission is to generate economic growth and job creation in Nicaragua by attracting high-quality foreign direct investment. The agency provides complimentary support services to qualified investors seeking investment opportunities in our country.