Caribbean & Central America - November 2012 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Government boasts energy achievements. At a recent energy forum, Energy Minister Emilio Rappaccioli drew attention to what remains a priority for the government of President Daniel Ortega: transforming Nicaragua’s energy matrix. According to Rappaccioli, just 40% of Nicaragua’s energy is currently generated by renewable sources, a figure Ortega hopes to increase to 80% by 2017. This means Nicaragua is set to go from being the most oil-dependent nation in Central America to challenging the green credentials of Costa Rica, which currently produces more than 90% of energy from renewable sources.

Back in April the Ortega government announced that at least five key projects are due to begin operating this year/early next year, which are expected to contribute some 142MW to the country’s total installed capacity of 1108.29MW. These are: the second phase of the geothermal plant San Jacinto Tizate, expected to contribute 36 MW by end 2012; the wind projects Blue Power (39.6MW) and Eolo (37.5MW), slated to begin operating by the end of this year; and hydroelectric projects Larreynaga (17.2MW) and Hidropantasma (12MW), due to begin operations in August and March 2013, respectively.

These efforts to boost green energy have already attracted plaudits. A report by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on green energy production in Latin America & the Caribbean, released earlier in the year, ranked Nicaragua second only to Brazil out of 26 countries. The IDB study, ‘Climate Scope 2012 Preview’, which measured factors such as enabling framework, clean energy investments and low carbon financing, low-carbon business and clean energy value chains, highlighted that cumulative clean energy investment in Nicaragua between 2006 and 2011 reached US$1.1bn, while last year alone around US$211m went to the country’s wind and geothermal sectors. Rappaccioli also hailed the government’s achievements in electrifying the country, pointing out that since 2007, the year Ortega took office, electricity coverage has increased from 52% to 72% of the country, with plans to further increase this to 85% or 90% by 2017.