1.07GW Panama gas-to-power projects advance

Panamanian authorities have granted additional time for Panamá NG Power to close financing for the 670MW natural gas-fired Telfers project in Colón province.

Following a supreme court ruling after the company filed an appeal, public services regulator Asep extended the deadline to October 9.

The watchdog had not accepted a document submitted in May by Panamá NG Power that demonstrated financial closure with Shanghai Electric Group, arguing that the document had been filed after a previous deadline.

Meanwhile, information from Asep shows that following an inspection, advancement of Martano's 400MW Gas to Power Panama (GTPP) project reaches 13% with personnel from Shanghai Electric Power Generation Engineering and subcontractors on site.

Work so far includes access roads, earth movement and land compaction.

GTPP and Telfers are penciled in to come online in 2020.

Earlier this month, AES launched opertions of the 381MW Costa Norte combined cycle power plant in Panama and associated LNG terminal, the country's first such energy infrastructure.

FOURTH LINE

On the transmission front, state power company Etesa reported that China Electric Power Equipment and Technology does comply with prequalification requirements to build the country's fourth power transmission line.

The Chinese firm had requested a review of the initial evaluation report.