The Río Samalá is situated in a spectacular mountainous
area in the southwest region of Guatemala, 100 km west of Guatemala City.
The river flows south to the Pacific Ocean through steep, lush terrain
dominated by several active volcanoes. The identified development site
was immediately downstream from an existing power plant and bordered the
El Canadá farm. Acres established a development partnership with
the local farm owner and began planning activities in September 1998.
A team of Acres engineers, led by Robert Eggink and Ian Ainslie, propelled
the project’s startup with a site walkover and preinvestment brochure
including conceptual drawings, energy estimates and construction cost
estimates. This was used to define project features and economic attractiveness
to potential investors. Subsequently, ENEL North America agreed to invest
in the project and contracted Acres as lead engineer and Owner’s
Engineer during construction. The original Acres team continued work and
saw the El Canadá project through to successful completion.
For the initial feasibility study, subsurface investigations and topographic
surveys were undertaken to assess the optimum configuration for El Canadá.
The configuration recommended by Acres included a small rubber diversion
dam, flushing structure, desander, 1.2-km tunnel, 5-hour peaking reservoir,
penstock intake structure, 2.4-km buried steel penstock, 43-MW 2-Pelton
unit powerhouse, substation, transmission line and several kilometers
of access road. The plant has a gross head of 395 m.
 |
By successfully promoting this hydro development, Acres was able to prevent the future possibility of thermal plant construction and avoid associated emissions. In addition to design-specific environmental considerations, the plant’s construction had a number of beneficial side-effects including sub-surface water conservation, river cleansing and reforestation. For example, the trash-handling system designed to prevent debris from entering El Canadá’s turbines simultaneously acts as a much-needed system to remove garbage from the Río Samalá. |
With these positive effects taken into consideration, as well as El Canadá’s
contribution to greenhouse gas reductions in accordance with the Kyoto
Protocol, ENEL Latin America was successful in receiving carbon credits
from the World Bank Prototype Carbon Fund. ENEL’s commitment to the
project also went beyond plant confines to include substantial infrastructure
investments to improve the conditions of the neighboring communities.
The El Canadá plant started producing energy ahead of schedule,
near the end of 2003, and is one of the first renewable energy projects
to be developed after the approval of Guatemala’s new General Electricity
Law. El Canadá also acts as a development model, providing invaluable
knowledge and experience for other parties interested in entering this
challenging market.
For further information, please contact:
 |
Ian Ainslie Acres International, Niagara Falls, ON 905-374-5200 iainslie@acres.com
|
 |
Robert Eggink Acres International, Amherst, NY 716-689-3737 reggink@acres.com
|