CENTRAL AMERICAN ENERGY TO BE CHEAPER.

Central America is poised to interconnect all of its hydroelectric plants with a super power line network that will reduce energy rates by as much as 20%, reports The Tico Times (February 5, 1999): Tesfilo de la Torre, former president of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), says the US$330 million project should be completed in 2003, with a 300-megawatt power line stretching 1,800 kilometers from Panama to Guatemala that passes through all nations in between; The proposed "interconnection" will enable countries to sell surplus energy to neighbors in need, when power generation is limited during seasonal drought. "The regional network would take advantage of each country's climates," De la Torre confirmed. "In October (the country's wettest month), Costa Rica could sell energy to dry parts of, say, Guatemala. This excess energy goes to waste without the network." A continuous power line already connects Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras, but De la Torre said it's inadequate to meet the countries' energy-transfer needs. Guatemala and El Salvador built a shared line of similar size in 1986. The proposed 300-megawatt line should meet the region's needs through 2013; A region-wide power grid will facilitate Central America's possible interconnection with Mexico, say other experts. Jorge Zamora, general director of ICE's National Energy Control Center, says that Mexican power lines come within 50 kilometers of the Guatemalan border. The cost to connect the two systems would be minimal and would translate into more savings and production efficiency, he said. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will finance US$240 million of the US$330 million project, with each of the six countries earmarking $40 million of their IDB loans for interconnection. Another $90 million must come from Central America's state and private power companies in conjunction with a private-sector partner that will install the line. These companies will become "owners" of the power line, responsible for its maintenance; The most formidable obstacle may be the expropriation  of the land over which the power lines will run. ICE encountered stiff community opposition last year to a 130-megawatt power line that passed through the upscale neighborhood of Bosques de Doqa Rosa, near the Hotel Melia Cariari, northwest of San Jose.