Owned by Energy Global International of Santa Ana, Costa Rica, the El Canada hydroelectric project will add 40MW of peak power to the national electricity grid. This is GE's first hydro project for an independent power producer in Guatemala.
The run-of-river project will be located in southwest Guatemala, near the industrial city of Quezaltenango, on the Rio Samala. The project is downstream from the Instituto Nacional de Electrificacion's (INDE) existing Santa Maria Power Station, and will connect to the power grid at the Santa Maria substation to help meet the region's growing power demand.
In the contract with Solel Boneh Guatemala, as the EPC contractor, GE will provide two vertical, six-jet, 21MW Pelton turbines, two 28MVA synchronous power generators, station controls, transformers, and transmission and distribution lines. The turbines for the project will be designed by ge-hydro in Norway and manufactured in Bulgaria and Spain, where the transformers and high voltage equipment will also be produced. The generators will be manufactured by GE Hydro Inepar in Brazil, with the station controls coming from Canada.
Equipment will be shipped to the site in December 2002 for installation by local contractors. The project is slated for completion by January 2004.
