Gas plant to inject energy into the national system by March 2024

The large natural gas-based power plant, with an investment of 1.1 billion dollars, will begin tests at the end of 2023, informed the heads of the project, AES Panama and InterEnergy Group.

The Generadora Gatún project, located on Telfers Island, in the Caribbean province of Colón, which will produce 670 megawatts (MW) using natural gas as a source, was visited yesterday by Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo and US Ambassador Mari Carmen Aponte.

The president of AES Panama, Miguel Bolinaga, said that the work is progressing at a good pace and that by the end of 2023 the plant will be carrying out tests and by March 2024 it will be dispatching clean and environmentally friendly energy to the Panamanian electrical system.

At the same time as the Generadora Gatun project, other secondary projects are being developed: the expansion of the AES de Colon power plant to supply natural gas, the gas pipeline that will transport it, and a transmission line.

The manager of Generadora Gatun, Esteban Barrientos, assured that all the projects are on schedule, and specified that the expansion project is 27.9% complete, and the transmission plant is 38% complete.

The investment in the Gatun power plant amounts to 1.1 billion dollars; that of the expansion of the AES de Colon power plant, 120 million dollars, and that of the transmission line 3, 89 million dollars, said the Government's statement.

The manager of the state-owned Empresa de Transmisión Eléctrica (Etesa), Carlos Mosquera, said that line 3, which is being built from the Sabanitas substation to the substation in Panama, registers a 39.1% progress.

The Generadora Gatún project is in charge of Grupo Energético Gas Panamá, formed by InterEnergy Group (51 %) and AES Panamá (49 %), as indicated by the Panamanian Government last March, when its construction started.

The Gatun Generating Plant will replace the thermal plants that have already been removed from the Panamanian electricity system, moving towards a much cleaner and more efficient energy matrix, the Government said at the time.