New Fortress Plans LNG Power Plant in Nicaragua
New Fortress Energy (NFE) has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with Nicaraguan electricity distributors DisNorte and DisSur, the US company said on February 17, underpinning the construction of a 300-MW gas-fired power plant near the country's port of Puerto Sandino.
The proposed plant would run on more than 21 trillion Btu (610mn m3)/yr of gas supplied by NFE from an offshore LNG receiving, storage and regasification unit, the developer said in a statement, noting the project would support Nicaragua's economic development and its transition to lower carbon emissions.
Nicaragua relies heavily on fuel oil imports to generate power, but wants to shift to cleaner sources of energy, having already developed wind, solar and geothermal plants. It does not currently have any gas-fired capacity.
NFE plans to complete both the LNG terminal and power plant in the second half of 2021, pending conditions such as acquiring necessary licences and permits. Their development is expected to be funded with cash on hand and funds from NFE's operations, the company said.
NFE is developing LNG import and export projects in the Caribbean, Europe, Mexico and the US. It also last year signed a preliminary deal to construct a new regasification terminal in Angola – an LNG exporting country.
The New York-based firm last month secured a $800mn loan facility from private equity firm Apollo Global Management to fund construction of LNG infrastructure.