Central America power watch: Demand outlook, supply call, regulatory tweak

Nicaragua’s national load dispatch center CNDC forecasts that electricity use in 2023 and 2024 will hit 5,083GWh and 5,319GWh, respectively.

The projections are part of CNDC’s preliminary demand outlook for the period which highlights that the principal offtakers are power distributors Disnorte and Dissur.

Consumption in the first seven months of 2022 totaled 2,875GWh.

The center also released its 2023 preliminary major maintenance program for generation units.

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Panama’s energy department recommended to state power transmission company Etesa that it draft and present reference terms to public services regulator Asep to procure electricity.

Supply would begin March 1, 2023 and the contracts would be for up to three years, according to a department resolution.

“In the LPI No. ETESA 01-21 tender, the minimum contracting levels of power and energy for all electricity distribution companies established in the purchasing rules were not reached, coupled with the increase in the demand for electricity, particularly in the months of summer, which makes it necessary, in order to cover the contracting obligations of electricity distribution companies, to carry out short-term contracting acts,” the department said.

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El Salvador’s power and telecommunications regulator Siget released for consultation a proposal for the 2022-26 capacity charge of the wholesale electricity market.