Guatemala envisions gas plant in 2020

Natural gas is a candidate to help diversify Guatemala's energy matrix due to the technology's reduced CO2 emissions and lower investment and O&M costs.

That's according to the energy and mines ministry's (MEM) 2016-30 power generation expansion plan, which sees a gas-fired power plant online in 2020.

The ministry says, however, that first it is necessary to determine demand not only from the power industry but also the industrial sector.

Development of a natural gas market in Guatemala requires a regulatory framework to allow the introduction of this fuel, José Gordillo from Advanced Business Strategies Consulting Group said previously.

The country is working with El Salvador and Honduras to advance a project to import gas from Mexico.

The plan envisions 880MW of new capacity, the bulk of which would come hydropower (470MW) followed by gas (120MW), wind (101MW), solar (87.5MW), coal (50MW), bunker (35MW) and biomass (16MW).

The ministry forecasts electricity use and load demand in 2030 to hit 18,269GWh and 2,981MW, compared with this year's expected 10,742GWh and 1,790MW.

The outlook is for an average scenario (dark blue line in following graphs) while other scenarios include industrial projects and rural electrification (medium blue line), and energy efficiency (light blue line).

Guatemalan power utilities Eegsa and Energuate recently issued a call for bids to supply energy through 2020.