Bolivia to Develop Wind Power with Help from Denmark
LA PAZ – The Bolivian government launched on Tuesday a largely Danish-funded $191 million initiative to create three wind farms in the Andean nation. President Evo Morales signed an executive order authorizing state-owned electric company Ende to establish three wind farms with a capacity to produce a combined 108 MW in the eastern province of Santa Cruz. Denmark's foreign aid agency Danida will provide $125 million and Ende nearly $66 million over the course of two years to carry out the project, according to information from Bolivia's Ministry of Communication. During the signing ceremony in Santa Cruz city, Morales said that Bolivia would soon be able to export electricity to neighboring countries, as the Andean nation's surplus generation reaches 600 MW and could rise to 1,000 MW in 2019. Bolivia's minister of energy, Rafael Alarcon, said that the government is working on "the conditions to make electricity exports possible by generating surplus electricity with different types of technology, with the goal of increasing the country's income." Last week, Morales said that Bolivia is planning to start supplying electricity to Argentina by early 2019, while Bolivian state energy giant YPFB is in talks with Peru and with several Brazilian states about possible joint ventures in power generation. |