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CENTRAL AMERICA Doors Wide Open for Renewable Energy By Danilo Valladares GUATEMALA CITY, Jul 15, 2010 (IPS) - Heavy reliance on petroleum imports, the need for electricity in rural areas, and
the ongoing effort towards sustainable development have focussed Central
America's attention on renewable energy. But that doesn't mean there isn't
opposition.
This year, Honduras plans to have one of the largest wind energy farms in
Latin America up and running, with an output of 100 megawatts of electricity.
Located in the municipality of Santa Ana, 24 kilometres from the Honduran
capital, it cost 250 million dollars, according to owner Energía Eólica
Honduras (Wind Energy Honduras), subsidiary of Mesoamerica Energy, made
up of 15 business groups from the region.
In addition, Honduras will invest 2.1 billion dollars in 52 hydroelectric
projects between 2010 and 2016, each with the capacity to generate five
megawatts, announced the Honduran Association of Small Producers of
Renewable Energy in early June.
"We based our efforts on three aspects: energy security by avoiding
dependence on international petroleum prices, improving access to energy in
rural zones, and sustainable development," Association president Elsia Paz
told IPS.
According to Paz, promotion of renewable energy has been important for
achieving a balanced diversification of the Honduran energy matrix, as 70
percent comes from fossil fuels, "a resource that is imported and leads to
capital flight."
Honduras is typical of Central America's high reliance on oil for generating
electricity.
In the 1980s, about 75 percent of the region's electricity came from
renewable sources -- primarily hydroelectric dams. That portion has now
dropped to 50 percent, according to the non-governmental Energy Network
Foundation BUN-CA, based in Costa Rica. The rest comes from hydrocarbon-
based sources.
Nicaragua, meanwhile, through its Ministry of Energy and Mines, announced
in May that all of the energy generated in 2016 would come from renewable
sources through the implementation of the National Programme for
Sustainable Electrification and Renewable Energies.
Similar to Honduras, 70 percent of Nicaragua's electricity is generated from
fossil fuels, and 30 percent from renewable resources, according to official
figures.
To improve that ratio, construction is under way of the Tumarín hydroelectric
dam, the largest in the country, in the South Atlantic Autonomous Region.
Behind the project, which will produce 220 megawatts, is the Brazilian
consortium Quieroz Galvão-Electrobras.
But Tumarín has come under fire from the surrounding communities, which
say they were not consulted about the project and it will have negative
consequences for the entire Río Grande de Matagalpa watershed. The dam,
which requires an investment of more than 600 million dollars, will change
hands to be administered by the Nicaraguan government in 30 years.
Meanwhile, the Amayo I and II wind park, with U.S., Guatemalan and
Nicaraguan capital, is so far the largest operating in Central America.
Located along the shore of Lake Nicaragua, in the southern province of Rivas,
it generates 63 megawatts of electricity.
Luis Molina, of the environmental control unit of Nicaragua's Ministry of
Energy and Mines, told IPS that his country aims to implement renewable
energy projects in order to reduce emissions of greenhouse-effect gases,
which cause global warming, and to decrease the portion of the national
budget going to the purchase of fossil fuels.
He said that at the "macro" level, the main objective is to achieve 100 percent
energy from renewable sources, while at the "micro" level the goal is to
extend the electrical network in rural areas.
About 10 million people in Central America, of a total population of 40
million in the region, do not have electricity in their homes.
In El Salvador, which is already producing biofuels and has tapped into solar
and geothermal energy, the Japan International Cooperation Agency will
finance 1.5 million dollars for drafting a master plan for developing
renewable energies, to begin at year's end.
Approximately 60 percent of the region's energy potential lies in possible
hydroelectric dams.
Of the 22,000 megawatts of potentially exploitable hydro-energy, the Central
American isthmus has developed just 17 percent, according to the Central
American Electrification Council.
Costa Rica is the region's leading producer of clean energy, with 80 percent
coming from hydroelectric sources, according to the governmental Costa
Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE).
President Laura Chinchilla announced that she wants to make Costa Rica the
first country in the world to run 100 percent on renewable energy.
But it is no easy task. Guatemala's renewable energy coordinator at its
Ministry of Energy, Otto Ruiz Balcárcel, told IPS that there is a great deal of
misinformation about renewable energy, which limits investment in the
sector.
"There are towns that think water gets contaminated from the hydroelectric
turbines, and investors have not been able to communicate how it works," he
cited as one example.
However, he believes Guatemala is on the road to expanding clean energy,
primarily through more hydroelectric dams.
Of a different opinion is Oscar Conde, activist with the group Madreselva de
Guatemala, who told IPS that renewable energy projects like hydroelectric
dams alter ecosystems and affect rural communities, who are not taken into
account when the dams are built.
"They are transnational or national businesses that use the water for their
own benefit, and the communities just watch it go by," he said.
(END)
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