When Nicaraguan authorities talked about “energy planning” five years ago, they were referring to the rolling blackouts scheduled each week to accommodate persistent power shortages. Times have changed. With the addition since then of wind farms, geothermal plants and four power plants that burn bunker and diesel oil from Venezuela, Nicaragua today produces 40% more energy than in 2006. When authorities talk about “energy planning” now, they are referring to a more ambitious effort: to switch the country’s energy matrix from 70% oil-based power to 94% renewable energy—hydroelectricity included—over the next five years. The transition is already underway. Though the four new oil-fired plants initially provided 90% of the added power in 2007, they now account for 60% of new capacity... [Log in to read more]