Spanish group loses Nicaragua solar project award

Nicaragua’s state water utility Enacal has declared void the call to build a solar photovoltaic plant with installed nominal capacity of 15MW.

The bidding process was launched in August and is part of a program to improve and expand potable water and sanitation systems financed by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.

According to procurement information, the contract was awarded to Spanish group Consorcio Solec (Gestión de Recursos y Soluciones Empresariales-Sumelec Navarra) which offered US$17.92mn. The estimated budget was US$17.95mn.

In its decision to cancel the tender, Enacal said: “One of the features of this process is that the photovoltaic solar plant is delivered by injecting energy into the national interconnected system (SIN) and for this, the technical requirements established in the regulations of the regional electricity market regulation (RMER) must be met and by not having specified the obligation to supply the storage system, the energy regulatory body could not authorize its operation.”

Details of whether other groups had submitted proposals or if a new process will be launched were not provided.

Companies that participated in a field visit included Cuman Energy, Ludwig Pfeiffer and Solartía.

Enacal envisions installing the plant in Malpaisillo in the municipality of Larreynaga, León department.