Nicaragua Joins Latin America Electric Plan
The first electricity plants that Venezuela supplied Nicaragua to ease the national energy shortage will be operational at the hours with greatest demand.

A generator was installed at the state-run electricity plant Las Brisas, NW Managua, and joined eight 15 MW h generators.

Cuban Engineer Mario Gutierrez, leader of the joint group of Cuban and Venezuelan specialists, said they successfully completed the installation and first trial with support from the local Empresa Nacional de Transmision Electrica (ENTRESA).

Las Brisas hosts eight of 32 German generators that Venezuela supplied under a bilateral accord. The other 24 will generate 45 mW once installed by late March in Los Brasiles, outside Managua.

In all they will generate 60 mW and cover half the national deficit after Nicaragua joined the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) on January 11 along with Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia.

Energy aid to Nicaragua includes the free exchange of incandescent for energy-saving bulbs at homes with the cooperation of Cuban social workers that helped ENTRESA gauge national consumption.

They ran polls at 12 of 17 Nicaraguan Departments (provinces) that showed that the new bulbs will save between 60-70 mW and help eliminate the current deficit.

It would also give the government time to boost national and foreign investments to produce electricity from the wind, geothermic and water sources.