Rechargenews.com

Richard A. Kessler

January 4, 2010

Ram Power has closed on a $77m credit facility that will help enable it to boost power output at the 10 megawatt San Jacinto-Tizate geothermal power project in Nicaragua to 46MW by April 2011.

The consortium of lenders includes Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), Export Development Canada and Cordiant Capital.

CABEI , FMO, and EDC acted as co-arrangers of the facilities for Polaris Energy Nicaragua, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ram.

Ram Power , based in Reno, Nevada, says the proposed output expansion will not require additional drilling. The site is northwest of the capital Managua.

The company expects to boost site power capacity to 72 MW by fourth quarter 2011. Both phases of the project will use state-of-the-art Fuji turbine generators.

Upon completion of Phase II, the existing 10 MW power plant currently at the San Jacinto site will be decommissioned.

"The San Jacinto project will provide for sustainable, low cost and base load renewable energy in Nicaragua," says Huub Cornelissen, director of energy and housing at FMO.

Ram Power, through Polaris, has a 25 power purchase agreement with a local subsidiary of Spanish electric utility Union Fenosa for up to 72MW.

Hezy Ram, chief executive of Ram Power, says that first phase expansion will result in $21m of additional revenue for the company and will reduce carbon emissions by 400,000 tons a year in Nicaragua.

The existing 10MW facility generates 56,000 tons of carbon credits a year, which will increase to 135,000 when the first phase is completed. The project will also sharply reduce the country's foreign exchange outlays for crude oil imports.

Ram officials believe San Jacinto-Tizate has potential to produce 203MW although this will need to be confirmed with additional drilling and other tests.

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