Electricity sector in Nicaragua

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Electricity sector of Nicaragua

Data
Electricity coverage (2006)	55% (total), 40% (rural), 90% (urban); (LAC total average in 2005: 92%)
Installed capacity (2006)	751 MW
Share of fossil energy	75%
Share of renewable energy	25% (hydro & geothermal)
GHG emissions from electricity generation (2003)	1.52 MtCO2
Average electricity use (2006)	366 kWh per capita
Distribution losses (2006)	28.8%; (LAC average in 2005: 13.6%)
Consumption by sector (% of total)
Residential	34%
Industrial	20%
Commercial	31%
Tariffs and financing
Average residential tariff (US$/kW·h, 2006)	0.137; (LAC average in 2005: 0.115)
Average industrial tariff (US$/kW·h, 2006)	0.101; (LAC average in 2005: 0.107)
Average commercial tariff (US$/kW·h, 2006)	0.137
Services
Sector unbundling	Yes
Share of private sector in generation	70%
Competitive supply to large users	No
Competitive supply to residential users	No
Institutions
No. of service providers	10 (generation), 1 (transmission), 1 main (distribution)
Responsibility for regulation	INE-Nicaraguan Energy Institute
Responsibility for policy-setting	MEM-Ministry of Energy and Mines
Responsibility for the environment	Environment and Natural Resources Ministry (MARENA)
Electricity sector law	Yes (1998, modified in 1997)
Renewable energy law	Yes (2005)
CDM transactions related to the electricity sector	2 registered CDM project; 336,723 t CO2e annual emissions reductions

Nicaragua is the country in Central America with the lowest electricity generation,^[1] as well as the lowest percentage of population with access to electricity. The unbundling and privatization process of the 1990s did not achieve the expected objectives, resulting in very little generation capacity added to the system. This, together with its high dependence on oil for electricity generation (the highest in the region), led to an energy crisis in 2006 from which the country has not fully recovered yet.

The recent figures are available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20130726102527/http://ine.gob.ni/DGE/serieHistorica.html

The Nicaraguan electricity system comprises the National Interconnected System (SIN), which covers more than 90% of the territory where the population of the country lives (the entire Pacific, Central and North zone of the country). The remaining regions are covered by small isolated generation systems.^[2] The Central American Electrical Interconnection System (SIEPAC) project will integrate the electricity network of the country with the rest of the Central American countries, which is expected to improve reliability of supply and reduce costs.