Description:
The six Central American countries of
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and
Panama share a long tradition of regional integration,
including a common market, substantial intraregional trade,
as well as coordinated commercial policies, such as the
Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the US.
The most significant example of regional integration in the
energy subsector consists of the Sistema de Interconexion
Electrica para America Central (SIEPAC), an interconnection
line that is expected to link the six countries in mid-2010.
The creation of the interconnection has been a long-term
effort, starting in the early 1990s and culminating in 2010.
This report provides an overview of the energy sector in
Central America, with a focus on the power subsector, and
highlights the key challenges and options for meeting future
energy and development goals. One of the main objectives of
the study is to identify paths for collective action whereby
individual countries, and the region as a whole, could
benefit from a more integrated approach to developing energy
infrastructure and connecting energy markets.