geothermal power plant projects in central america - Orkustofnun

2. CENTRAL AMERICAN DATA2.1 Power production statusAccording to CEPAL (2011), the annual electricity generation in the six Central American countriesraised to 40,386.3 GWh in 2010, 2.1% more than the energy registered in 2009. As Figure 1 shows,such energy was generated from the following sources: hydraulic (54%), thermal (37%), geothermal(8%) and wind (1%).Costa Rica has the largest installed capacity and is the largest producer in the region. Nicaragua is thesmallest. After hydro, geothermal is the primary renewable energy in the region. Costa Rica andNicaragua are the only countries with installed wind power. As Figure 1 shows, at the end of 2010, theinstalled capacity for Central America was 11,212.1 MW, 53.8% from thermal (6,033.5 MW), 40%from hydro (4,489 MW), 4.5% from geothermal (506.8 MW) and 1.6% from wind (182.6 MW).NET INJECTION BY SOURCE (2010)Wind518 GWh1%300025002000INSTALLED ELECTRICITY GENERATION CAPACITY (2010)Wind Thermal Geothermal HydroThermal14,197 GWh37%Hydro20,954 GWh54%MW150010005000Geothermal3,124 GWh8%CostaRicaEl SalvadorGuatemalaHondurasNicaraguaPanamáFIGURE 1: Central America. Net injection by source in 2010; generation capacity by countryBased on the data presented in Figure 1, thermal makes up more than half of the installed capacity inmost of the countries, not counting Costa Rica. The strong dependency on hydrocarbons exposes theentire region to the impact of increased international prices for petroleum. Central America counts onthe high potential of hydroelectric and geothermal resources. In both cases, only a small percentagehas been exploited, 17% of the hydroelectric potential (22,000 MW) and 13% of the geothermalpotential (4,000 MW).The Central American region has made important reforms regarding electricity. Since the end of the1980s, electricity production under centralized control of the state´s companies was integrated intoliberalized markets, particularly with regard to generation activities. Guatemala, El Salvador,Nicaragua and Panama made profound changes in a relatively short period of time in their policiesregarding generation, transmission and distribution. In Honduras and Costa Rica, changes were limitedin form and only concerned generation. In the four countries that reconstructed their policies, thegeneration market operates well. In Honduras, a model of a single buyer was created, and in CostaRica, private participation was opened for developing renewable energy resources of limited capacity(Grupo ICE, 2009).2.2 Power production status2.2.1 GuatemalaIn 1996, Guatemala’s Congress voted to reform the electric power market, allowing the private sectorto participate in a number of projects. The reforms gave private companies unrestricted access to thepower grid, distributors, and wholesale customers, providing a general unbundling of generation,transmission, and distribution. The AMM (Administrador del Mercado Mayorista) is the wholesale3