Thursday, March 5, 2020

Nicaragua: Production at San Jacinto Geothermal Power Plant Bounces Back after Well Expansion

Polaris Infrastructure Announces 2019 Year End Results (News Release)

(Courtesy Polaris Infrastructure)
Polaris Infrastructure Inc., a Toronto-based company engaged in the operation, acquisition and development of renewable energy projects in Latin America, is pleased to report its audited financial and operating results for the year ended December 31, 2019.  

Highlights include delivering a consolidated 570,934 MWhrs (net) from the geothermal facility in Nicaragua (the "San Jacinto facility") and hydroelectric facilities in Peru, compared with a consolidated 548,510 MWhrs (net) in 2018.

During the three months period ended December 31, 2019, the San Jacinto facility produced 59.9 MW average (net), compared to 64.9 MW average (net) in the same quarter of 2018 and compared to 60.2 MW average (net) for the third quarter of 2019.  The decrease in San Jacinto's net power generation was mainly the result of the fact that well SJ 12-5 had only been online since April 2018 and geothermal fields can take between 12 to 18 months to stabilize after new large wells are brought into production. 

During the first half of 2019, San Jacinto production benefited from lower than expected downtime and additional steam flows resulting from new wells connected in the first half of 2018; however, over the second half of the year production at the plant decreased due to expected natural decline coupled with cyclical behavior in certain wells, compared to 2018. We are noticing a stabilization in the field and production in the first quarter to date has marginally increased from the third and fourth quarters of 2019.