Financing nod for Central America power grid expansion

Central America power interconnection commission CRIE approved an initial budget of US$46.5mn to add a second circuit to regional grid Siepac.

The project entails adding lines between the substations Agua Caliente in Honduras and Sandino in Nicaragua, and substations La Virgen in Nicaragua and Fortuna in Costa Rica.

Estimated investment for Agua Caliente-Sandino and La Virgen-Fortuna is US$26.2mn and US$20.3mn, respectively.

The approval authorizes Siepac operator EPR to finance the work with US$3.99mn from the easements’ regularization fund, an EPR equity contribution of US$5.31mn, and US$37.2mn from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (Cabei).

“An offer like that from the Cabei reflects the interest in maintaining a close relationship that allows the development of new projects to be promoted that encourage the growth and evolution of energy transactions in the region,” CRIE said in its approval.

It added that “the approval of a financing structure in which 80% of the resources come from multilateral banks strengthens the supervision and management of the project, since the banks, due to their extensive experience in the evaluation and monitoring of investment projects, have robust mechanisms to ensure that the resources are used efficiently and as planned.”

BNamericas previously reported that CRIE had approved EPR’s project request.

Meanwhile, EPR released a guide for the creation and update of databases that will be used by the regional generation and transmission planning system.

The publication is available in the Documents box in the top right corner of the screen.

Also read Central America forecast to add 2.3GW in 2025-26