YEAR IN REVIEW: Caribbean, Central American energy 2013

The Caribbean and Central America's energy sector in 2013 advanced on several fronts led by synergies between the hydrocarbons and power industries that added new impetus to diversification.

Caribbean countries, in particular small island states, continued efforts to wean their economies away from liquid fossil fuel-fired plants with growing emphasis on natural gas.

Emera's fuel switch and renewable energy strategy for the company's Caribbean holdings saw near completion of FEED work for the potential introduction of CNG to the Bahamas from Florida.

Another fuel switch project moved forward in the US Virgin Islands where the Water and Power Authority signed an agreement with Vitol Group to use propane as the primary fuel for power generation.

Puerto Rico power utility AEE and Excelerate Energy filed a formal application with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the Aguirre Offshore GasPort project which will supply gas to thermoelectric plants.

In Jamaica, authorities received bids to supply base load generating capacity with Energy World International/Pacific LNG the preferred bidder with a proposal for a natural gas-fired plant. And local utility JPS and a consortium inked a CNG study agreement.

Development of the Caribbean's natural gas market was targeted by IDB which launched a process to analyze the feasibility of establishing a competitive commercial supply chain in the region.

Plans to introduce natural gas in Central America also got a boost from the bank which approved funds to review previous technical cooperation executed in 2006 that looked at supply and demand scenarios, infrastructure, and regulatory and institutional requirements.

A related milestone was Asocio Quantum-GLU's natural gas proposal submitted in El Salvador's call to supply 355MW. Asocio presented a bid for 338MW at a price of US$119.99/MW while AES Fonseca Energía tabled an offer for 170MW at a price of US$135.03/MW based on coal.

Guatemala saw Zeta Gas de Centroamérica begin a US$40mn expansion of an LPG terminal and the country's President Otto Pérez Molina announced interest in a pipeline to bring natural gas from Mexico.

And power grid Siepac members Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, along with Belize, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Mexico signed an energy integration declaration which included a pledge to complete a report on options for natural gas commercialization and transportation.