Nicaragua announces new US$330 million hydroelectric project

February 12, 2015

General Alvaro Baltodano, Nicaragua’s Presidential Delegate for Investments, and Mette Gonggrijp, Netherlands Ambassador in Nicaragua, announced today the start of the feasibility study for a new hydropower facility, Aguas El Carmen. This project, to be developed by Aguas El Carmen S.A., will be located in Matagalpa, Nicaragua and will provide up to 10 percent of the country’s electricity needs when operational.

Aguas El Carmen will have an anticipated investment value of US$330 million for an installed capacity of 85 MW and will be funded by the Netherlands Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO, for its acronym in Dutch) and other local and regional partners.

“This proyect brings us closer to the goal of the Government of Nicaragua of transforming the country’s energy matrix to generate an 80 percent from renewable sources in 2018”, declared General Baltodano. “Nicaragua continues to desmostrate its leadership in the energy field within Central America and even Latin America”, he added.

On the other hand, Ernesto Martinez Tiffer, Department Chief of Nicaragua’s Electricity Company (ENEL, for its acronym in Spanish), expressed the government’s satisfaction with the beginning of the feasibility studies for the Aguas El Carmen project, being this an important component of the National Energy Plan.

Nicaragua generated 51 percent of its energy matrix from renewable resources in 2014. Currently, the main source of renewable energy generation in the country is geothermic (16.7%), followed by wind power (14.87%), hydroelectric (12.16%), and biomass (7.25%).

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En español: Nicaragua anuncia nuevo proyecto hidroeléctrico de US$330 millones