94% Renewable Energy By 2017 Is Goal For Nicaragua
From CleanTechnica.com
By Jake Richardson
Nicaragua has one of the most aggressive renewable energy goals in the world — it intends to have 94% of its electricity come from renewable energy by 2017. The spark for this new energy push was an energy crisis due to a heavy reliance on foreign oil. Reducing this over-reliance from 70% to 6% could be made possible by renewable energy infrastructure development.
While these goals may seem unachievable in a poor country with technological challenges, there are only about six million people living there, and a single, very large hydroelectric plant could go a long way toward providing clean energy. The Tumarin project will cost about $1.1 billion and has a 253-megawatt capacity. It should be completed by 2016 and could provide about 50% of the country’s electricity.
The Amayo I and II wind farms are producing about 63 megawatts, and a 72 MW geothermal project — the San Jacinto-Tizate — could become operational by 2014. Bagasse already supplies a small percentage of their total power, and solar is also an option.
