Goldwind USA Inc. announced last week that the company had secured a $71 million project financing deal for a 55MW project in Panama. This will form the first part of the Penonome wind farm, located in the Province of Cocle. Eventually the power generation will be 220MW with the completion of later stages.
The Republic of Panama is the southernmost country of Central America, situated on the isthmus connecting North and South Aerica. Famous for its Panama canal that took ten years to construct between 1904 and 1914 and allows ships to pass between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, it was reported that Panama City, the capital, was the city with the happiest people in the world. The plans for green energy to come to Panama should make the people even happier.
The project will feature 22 of Goldwind’s GW2.5MW Permanent Magnet Direct Drive (PMDD) wind turbines. It is due for completion next year and will not only be Panama’s first wind farm, but be the largest wind energy project in Central America. It should be providing 10% of the country’s energy needs by 2015.
Goldwind, which has won recent awards in Chile and Ecuador, has deployed more than 12GW of PMDD turbines globally as of the end of 2012. This project represents the largest wind energy project utilizing Goldwind wind turbines financed by western lenders.
“The strong support from official sector, regional and international banks underscored the essential quality of this renewable energy project and the strength of the sponsor team and we are proud to support the development of this new alternative energy source for Panama’s growing economy,”
said Daniel Gonzalez, BICSA’s general manager in Panama. Banco Internacional de Costa Rica (BiCSA) were one of the financial institutions that arranged the financing.
The project will strengthen Panama’s energy mixed energy matrix, complementing the existing technologies and creating more balance and security for the national electrical system, while reducing carbon emissions, important given that there’s flora and fauna in Panama not found anywhere else in the world.
Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd., is the largest manufacturer of wind turbines in China and among the largest in the world. Chicago-based Goldwind USA serves as the headquarters for operations in both North and South America.
Although there is a high per centage of hydro electric power generation in Panama, the increasing costs of fuel and oil continues to have a strong impact on the prices paid by Panamanian consumers. The sector most affected is manufacturing, which must compete with products imported from countries that have lower energy costs. That’s why wind power will be so welcome in Panama. It also has a good wind profile an so the turbines will be producing energy for a great proportion of their operational life.
