300wh power station in China in Nicaragua

The Chinese state-owned company China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC) will build a photovoltaic solar power plant with a capacity of 67.3 megawatts in Nicaragua, the government of the Central American country announced on Monday.

According to the International Energy Agency, Nicaragua supplies around 60% of its total energy from renewable sources, including wind, solar and geothermal, with biomass – an often contested renewable – accounting for the largest share, at roughly 40% of total supply.

In San Isidro, a mountainous and rural municipality in northern Nicaragua's Matagalpa department, Chinese investment is helping to establish solar power – one of the latest arrivals in a wave of new projects announced in recent years, amid closer ties between the two countries.

“This gives us a guarantee that the project will be carried out in the best way and will ensure its best performance.” Around 60% of Nicaragua's total energy supply is drawn from renewable sources, with biomass (41.8%) accounting for the largest share of generation as of 2022. The remaining 40% is supplied by oil imports.

The Maribios Range is part of the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and contains several active volcanoes. The government estimates Nicaragua's geothermal potential to be 2,000 megawatts. Nicaragua's National Electric Transmission Company (Enatrel) seeks to transform the country's energy mix by focusing on renewable energy with its 2022-2037 expansion plan.

The Chinese company will build another plant with a capacity of 63 megawatts and with an investment of 82 million dollars, in San Isidro, in the department of Matagalpa, according to a contract signed in 2023, he told official media.