A ribbon-cutting ceremony this month in Honduras to mark the arrival of the Knutsen Bilbao vessel was a new milestone in the introduction of natural gas to Central America.
The 138,000m³ floating storage unit, originally built as an LNG tanker, is anchored off the port of Cortés and is part of a project developed by Génesis Energías.
One of the offtakers will be the 240MW Brassavola thermal plant in San Pedro Sula that will help reduce the generation park’s dependence on liquid fuel which accounts for a little over half of power capacity.
Honduras joins Panama, El Salvador and Nicaragua as the subregion’s latest LNG player.
Panama opened the door to the cleaner fuel in 2018 with the startup of Gas Natural Atlántico’s 381MW plant, which is supplied by the adjacent Costa Norte LNG terminal.
The thermoelectric producer was recently joined by Generadora Gatún and its 670MW plant.
Gas Natural Atlántico was followed four years later by Energía del Pacífico, which brought online a 380MW plant at El Salvador’s Acajutla port that is fed by a moored floating storage regasification unit.
In Nicaragua, New Fortress Energy (NFE) reported that construction of the Puerto Sandino LNG terminal and 300MW power plant is “substantially complete.”
“However, we will determine timing of final commissioning and commencement under our PPA based on the most optimal use of our LNG supply chain,” NFE said.
In recent days, NFE announced it would file its third-quarter report “as soon as practicable.”
“Along with its advisors, [NFE] is considering all options available, including asset sales, capital raising, debt amendments and refinancing transactions, and other strategic transactions that seek to provide additional liquidity and relief from acceleration under its debt agreements.”
And in Guatemala, there is cautious expectation that call PEG-5-2025 to secure up to 1,400MW may help lay the foundation for the incorporation of natural gas beyond its current nominal contribution of 3MW, or 0.1% of effective installed capacity.
There has been increasing debate among authorities and stakeholders about the potential import of LNG.
In the interim, an initial build-out is being led by Innova Energy’s 45MW gas-fired plant in Petén, which is nearing completion and will be supplied with locally produced gas.
Meanwhile, Costa Rica’s power generation expansion roadmap does not envision the participation of natural gas due to a strong renewable mix.
(The original version of this content was written in English)