Nicaragua is well ahead of many countries in relation to electricity production by renewable energy. The year to date figure (up to November 4th 2021) shows 68% of Nicaragua’s electricity production is from renewable energy.
The five categories of renewable energy, the MWh produced and the percentage of total production are as follows:
Biomass 485,519.7 (15.5%)
Wind 521,053.8 (16.6%)
Geothermal 584,864.9 (18.7%)
Hydroelectric 491,084.9 (15.7%)
Solar 18,242.0 (0.6%)
The year to date bunker and diesel fuel production has been 1022,521.8 MWh and 6,269.5 MWh respectively, to combine for a year to date total of 1,028,791.3 MWh or 32% of the total production of Nicaragua’s electricity which so far this year has been 3,129,556.6 MWh. Source: http://www.cndc.org.ni/
Note: The new (300 MW) LPG power plant at Puerto Sandino, although not in the renewable energy column, will be cleaner than the older bunker fuel and diesel generators that can be decommissioned when the Sandino project comes on line.
Central America Region
According to this month’s Fitch report, an indicator that the economies of Central America nations are recovering from the Covid-10 Pandemic is the significant increases in their electricity consumption.
Aggregate demand for electricity in the Central America region grew by 5.9% in first-half of this year, 2021 (1H21) when compared with the same period last year.
The two countries leading the charts on increased industrial and commercial consumption were Guatemala and Honduras. They combined to create a demand that was 65.8% of the 1H21 increase (above) and also exceeded their pre-pandemic consumption levels.
In particular, the hydroelectric generation in Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama grew by 29.7% when compared with the same period in 2020. This represents 50.5% of the total electricity generated in the region.
Renewable (Regional)
Regional power generation using renewable energy has enjoyed an annual compound growth rate of 8.7% in the last 5 years. During that same period, more than 1.5 megawatts (MW) from renewable sources has been added to the total regional supply.
In 1H21, the region continued the 5 year growth trend in renewable energy by adding another 159 MW of renewable energy capacity. This represented 20.2% of the total new installed capacity that was added during that period.
Source: Power Generation in Central America – 1H21 www.fitchratings.com
