Costa Norte Gas-fired Thermal Power Plant and LNG Terminal Project

The Costa Norte Power Generation Project (the Project), located in the Province of Colón around 80 km northwest of Panama City, consists of the design, construction, and operation of i) an 180,000 m3 liquid natural gas (LNG) storage tank; ii) a regasification facility; iii) a 381MW net combined cycle gas-fired power plant; and iv) a 230 kW transmission line of approximately 17 km connected to the National Interconnected System. The estimated total cost of the Project is up to US$900 million, and it will supply approximately 3,000 GWh of electricity annually.

The regasification facility will include a jetty and pipeline for transferring the LNG from tankers to the storage tank. The power plant will be the regasification terminal anchor client, absorbing around 25% of the total terminal capacity. The project has secured an LNG contract from an international supplier who will provide LNG to the project with full-size tankers (~155.000 m3). The liquid gas will be stored in a tank and, through a physical process, converted to a gas state for use in the power plant. The Project will include three 10-year fuel supply agreements.

The project, which will contribute to building a more dependable and clean energy matrix in Panama, is expected to have the following development outcomes: i) increase the base load energy available to the national grid by 381MW; ii) expand the participation of natural gas in the Panamanian energy matrix in lieu of other fossil fuels; iii) increase the LNG supply in Panama; iv) enable more efficient use of intermittent sources of renewable energy; v) create direct and indirect jobs; and vi) potentially reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions.