The Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM granted Newton Energy a two-year provisional license to develop a 100-megawatt solar power generation park, located in Puerto Sandino, in western Nicaragua.
This park is expected to be the one with the largest generation capacity through solar energy developed in the country.
The MEM license was published in La Gaceta, Official State Gazette, on January 12, 2023, under the ministerial agreement 069-012-200.
The solar park will be located in the Finca La Virgen, two kilometers west of Puerto Sandino, Nagarote, León.
The ministerial agreement details that Newton Energy was incorporated “under the laws of the Republic of Nicaragua on March 18, 2022 and registered in the Public Commercial and Property Registry on March 22, 2022.”
It also stresses that during the two-year duration of the license, Newton Energy has to develop the necessary studies to demonstrate the feasibility of the project, whose progress will be reported every three months to the MEM.
The ministerial agreement does not give details about the origin of the investment capital of the Newton Energy company. The legal representative accredited before the MEM is Morten Eric Nygar, CEO of a company called Green Energy Group, according to his profile in the Linkedin social network.
In February 2022, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Salvador Mansell, announced that the regime planned until USD 556.1 million investment in various projects in the electricity sector, standing out 251.3 million dollars for the Mojolka hydroelectric project, on the Tuma river; 106.1 million in the El Hato solar project, in Terrabona; 101.6 million for new electricity transmission lines between Terrabona, Mulukukú and Boaco; 40 million in the commercial management and electrical distribution system; 8 million to build and modernize the National Cargo Dispatch Center, and 49.1 million for electric mobility.
Solar energy projects in Nicaragua
Among the solar energy projects, the regime’s propaganda media have highlighted solar parks that together contribute 60 megawatts of energy to the national interconnected system.
These solar parks are: La Trinidad Solar Plant in Diriamba (1.5 megawatts), Solaris in Puerto Sandino (12), San Juan de Nicaragua (300 kilowatts and Corn Island with 2.5 (megawatts).
Reports from the National Load Dispatch Center reveal that the demand for electricity in Nicaragua reaches 720 megawatts, with an installed capacity of 1460.1 megawatts.
A special report from CONFIDENTIAL He explained that of the installed capacity that the country has, although of that amount, only 1034.2 megawatts are really available, so that the real reserve is not 740.1 megawatts, but 315, generated largely by very old and very expensive plants.
This layoff of almost 426 megawatts (29.2% of installed capacity) is explained, in part, because units that have been in use for more than 65 years continue to operate in the country, which makes them prone to being out of service for longer, because they require higher levels of repair or technical maintenance.
Another reason is that the sanctions against Albanisathey left unused a generation capacity that exceeds 200 megawatts, in a context in which hydro, solar and wind power plants cannot generate more than 50% of their installed capacity, while the Momotombo geothermal plant has technical problems, and New Fortress Energy does not finish building its gas plantsupposed to generate up to 300 megabytes.
