Status of the Development of Renewable Energy Projects in the Republic of Panama

Abstract

The Republic of Panama plans to expand its power generation park by including renewable energy. Currently, more than half of the Panamanian power generation park is comprised of hydroelectric power and the rest is completed by thermoelectric plants, but other energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal and peat are available. This paper reviews the current status of the Panamanian power generation park, recent renewable energy developments, the legal framework and incentives in place for these projects, and the renewable energy resources available in the country. Finally, some hypothetical renewable energy projects are evaluated, to initially assess their economic feasibility. It can be concluded from this paper that: 1) hydro power is the only renewable currently in the Panamanian power generation park and comprises most of the future projects, 2) wind power is the other renewable with most potential in Panama, with the second-largest number of projects, 3) solar, geothermal and peat resources are available in Panama but there are no current developments to include them as part of large-scale power generation, 4) initial evaluation of two hypothetical hydroelectric and wind projects shows economic feasibility under the given assumptions; however, the project feasibility is dependent on specific site conditions.