Panama. The company AES Colón recently announced that its gas plant is ready to begin operations, which means that the Panamanian electricity sector will receive some 381 Megawatts more energy.
The AES Colón plant is recognized for being the first natural gas-based electricity generation plant in Panama and Central America, and will be inaugurated in August of this year. So far the plant has an advance of 98%.
AES Colón, the first natural gas-based power generation plant in Panama and Central America, is 98% complete and will be inaugurated in August of this year.
This project, which is being built with the investment of US$1,150 million by AES Corporation (50.1%) and Inversiones Bahía (49.9%), comes to strengthen the country's energy matrix, with an installed capacity of 381 megawatts (MW).
The AES Colón project comprises two stages: the first is the electricity generation plant that opens this year and the second, the liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage tank which will begin operations in the middle of next year and currently has an 82% progress.
75% (~60 TBTU) of the capacity of the LNG storage tank of the AES Colón project will be available for third-party use and the remaining 25% will be used for the plant.
Miguel Bolinaga, president of AES in Panama, said that "AES Colón is already a reality; has started the tests that have been successful, thus confirming that everything is almost ready for its inauguration."
"AES Colón will contribute to positioning Panama as a natural gas distribution hub, adding an important infrastructure, such as the terminal and the storage tank, to the logistics advantages of land and sea transport that the country already offers due to its geographical position," Added.
Bolinaga explained that, due to its versatility, liquefied natural gas allows its use at any scale in various sectors such as industry, transportation, electricity generation and bunkering. In addition, it can be transported in containers, gas pipelines, ships and trucks, among others.
During the construction process, the AES Colón project generated (in the phase of greatest activity) more than 2,500 jobs, between direct and indirect, in the province of Colón.
Source: Panama News Agency.
