IL Postcard

A Brighter Nicaragua is on the Horizon

Date: 10/17/2007

This is brilliant news…really. It seems the energy crisis in Nicaragua may be running its course. Three run-down power plants are close to being fixed, and as excess rains fuel the hydroelectric plant at Lake Apanas, the government expects to cut the energy deficit by more than two-thirds in November.

Already, the colonial town of Granada has had full power for almost three days straight, surprising residents who expected the usual four-hour blackouts. The most recent rationing schedule released by the power company suggests that Granada and San Juan del Sur will have no rolling blackouts this week. Poor barrios in Managua also received a boost with two newly installed transmitters that will hook hundreds of residents to the main electrical grid.

Nicaragua has been running with 80 to 100 megawatts less power than it needs for most of the summer, disrupting businesses, hotels, and homes. Numerous governments have stepped in to help Nicaragua solve its energy crisis. The help has ranged from Venezuela’s promise to deliver discount oil to Brazil and Taiwan’s proposals to build new hydroelectric plants.

Nearly 80% of Nicaragua’s energy supply runs on oil, which is selling at all-time highs. The Ministry of Energy announced plans earlier this year to fund more alternative electrical sources, including a series of new wind turbines that are being built near the Pacific coast.

Nicaragua hardly needs an incentive to try to end the energy crisis—but it has one. One of the conditions set for granting Nicaragua a loan by the International Monetary Fund is progress in ending the energy crisis. The blackouts are not over yet, but the future is clearly brighter.

Your Latin America Insider,

Suzan Haskins
for International Living