Panama presses on wind energy

The Panamanian agency for electricity transmission Etesa will purchase 150 MW of wind energy that are either under construction or in the pipeline, provided that electricity generation starts by 2013

Etesa, the Panamanian public electricity transmission company, announced a tender for the purchase of 150 MW of energy from wind farms. The call for bids, which will take place at the end of this year, concerns plants that are under construction or those that have been announced in this country, provided that they start producing by 2013.

The tender shall be called under a new law that aims at regulating wind generation, to be publicized within the summer. The latter was announced by the national Energy Secretary John Manuel Urriola, who specified that «up to now we have purchased what was offered to us. From now on, the new law will allow us to purchase what we need».

All the 150 MW are expected to be installed, in which case by 2013 Panama will meet 5% of the national electricity demand from wind generation.

(July 2010)