Panama plans to install 1 GW to 1.6 GW of wind and solar capacity by 2030

The Secretaría Nacional de Energía de Panamá (Panama’s Ministry of Energy) has unveiled its National Innovation Strategy of the National Interconnected System (ENISIN), which reveals several energy goals and forecasts for Panama to 2030, and notably that the country plans to install between 1 GW and 1.6 GW of new solar and wind capacity during the decade.

The ENISIN sets a goal to incorporate an energy storage capacity of 5% of the total demand, as well as a goal to exceed 20% of non-conventional renewable generation (wind and solar) by 2030. The document highlights two scenarios, one of reference and another of high penetration of renewable sources.

In the reference scenario, it is expected that there will be, by 2030, 2.5 GW of additional capacity to the current installed capacity (4.1 GW in 2020), of which 45% from thermal (1.1 GW), 25% from solar PV (622 MW), 16% from wind (400 MW) and 14% from hydro (365 MW). The scenario also predicts a withdrawal of 514 MW of thermal plant capacity.  Panama would reach 5.7 GW of total installed capacity by the end of 2030 under this scenario.

In the high renewable penetration scenario, 3.5 GW of additional capacity would be installed by 2030, of which 43% from thermal (1.5 GW), 30% from solar PV (1 GW), 17% for wind (607 MW) and 10% for hydro (365 MW). In this case, a withdrawal of 935 MW of thermal plants is expected. Panama would reach 6.3 GW of installed capacity by the end of 2030 under this scenario.

At the end of 2020, Panama had 1.8 GW of hydro capacity, 1.8 GW of thermal capacity, 421 MW of solar capacity and 270 MW of wind capacity.