Project to support gas-fired generation dispatch in Panama advances

The work order to begin construction of the Panamá III-Sabanitas power transmission project is due to be ready in May-June, according to Panama’s state power company Etesa.

BNamericas previously reported that Etesa had awarded the contract to build the US$88.7mn, 230kV line and associated substations to Agrupación Sabanitas Panamá (Elecnor-Elecen).

The 50km double circuit will reinforce dispatch from Colón province to capital Panama City, ahead of natural gas-fired plants planned for the province. The 2,000MVA link will run along the Panamá-Colón highway and boast gas insulated substations at each end.

Work on the social and environmental aspects is nearly 40% complete and the contract, which has been signed, is being fine-tuned. Project completion is penciled in for December 2022.

Last week and as part of an economic recovery package of 47 priority proposals, local private business council Conep called for the creation of a commission to evaluate the reactivation of gas-fired projects.

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LEGISLATIVE BILLS

Meanwhile, the national assembly’s environment committee approved in a first debate a bill to implement the use of renewable energy in the public sector.

The initiative would require public schools, hospitals, and other buildings to install systems to generate at least 10% of their electricity demand from renewables, among other actions.

The committee also greenlighted a bill to declare the Santa María river basin as a protected hydrological reserve which supplies the provinces of Veraguas, Herrera, Los Santos, and Coclé.