Etesa to receive Changuinola substation bids in Apr.

Panama's state transmission company Etesa will receive bids in April for construction of the Changuinola substation, company planning director Julio Ho told BNamericas. This is the second time Etesa has tendered construction of the substation, which according to Ho should now start in June, with operations following in July 2006. The Changuinola substation will allow the 119km, 230kV Fortuna-Changuinola transmission line project to get underway. In 2003, a consortium of Spanish companies Soluziona Ingenieria and Cobra won a contract to build the transmission line. That contract is currently being formalized, Ho added. The Fortuna-Changuinola-Frontera line will connect Bocas del Toro province, which is presently served by an isolated system, to Panama's central grid system and also allow for interconnection with northern neighbor Costa Rica. The transmission line and substation are part of the Anillo de Amistad interconnection project with Costa Rica, which is tentatively set to start operations in October 2006. The Fortuna-Changuinola-Frontera line will connect with the Cahuita substation that Costa Rica's state power company ICE plans to build as part of the Anillo de Amistad project, he added.