AES and Bahía Inversiones to launch $1.2 billion Panamanian LNG plant

Panama in August will inaugurate the first power facility in Central America using liquefied natural gas, following an investment of $1.2 billion in AES Colón, a joint venture of United States-based The AES Corporation and Panama-based Bahía Inversiones.

The first part of the project involves a power plant with a capacity of 381 megawatts.

A second stage, which will start operations in 2019, consists of storage and terminal facilities with a capcity of 180,000 cubic meters, 25% of which will be consumed internally, with the rest available to customers throughout the region.

The port of Colón is located on the Caribbean coast of Panama.

More than half of Panamanian electricity currently comes from hydrocarbon fuels, especially bunker and diesel.

Employing more than 10,000 people in 16 countries on four continents, The AES Corporation last year had revenue of $11 billion from power-generation and transmission operations, using energy sources which include natural gas, coal, diesel, and oil, as well as renewables, such as hydro, solar, wind, and biomass.

The company’s stock trades on the New York Exchange as AES.

Led by brothers Alberto Motta and Stanley Motta, Bahía Inversiones is a privately held company whose portfolio includes financial services, real estate, technology, transportation, ports, energy, and retail, including companies such as Banco General, Copa Airlines and the regional operations of Assa Insurance.