After a pilot scheme and evaluation of different renewable technologies, El Salvador’s state electric utility, Grupo CEL, has decided to start developing its own renewable energy projects.
The public company’s next projects include a 46MW wind energy project, and various solar PV plants.
The company had first piloted a 24kW solar PV plant last year. After its successful run, further plans have been made to add solar farms near two of its main hydroelectric plants. One of these solar project will be partly financed by Germany’s development bank kfW.
El Salvador’s current energy production capacity is of 1.9 GW. Thermo-electric plants provide 41% of the country’s energy demand, while hydroelectric plants cover 21% of it.
Solar energy capacity has greatly increased in recent years, with 93MW of new capacity installed in 2017, and 65MW in 2018. This increase is due to the completion of several large-scale projects. Further large projects, including a 100MW solar plant, are currently in construction.
