Good results in energy efficiency and electrification projects in Nicaragua

The Managua Municipality in Nicaragua is housed in 40-year old residential buildings. A comprehensive energy efficiency audit of the municipal offices took place in October 2012. The audit revealed that through an estimated 860,000 USD investment on new air conditioners, windows, replacing old monitors with new flat screens, and energy efficient lightning considerable savings in electricity use could be achieved. Pay-back time for the investment will be less than one year through smaller electricity bills. The energy savings are equivalent to an emission reduction of 644 tonnes CO 2 annually.

The energy audit forms part of a project between a Nordic company and the Nicaraguan Cleaner Production Centre (CPML). The project was financed by the NDF-funded Nordic Climate Facility. In the energy sector, NDF is participating in a multi-donor funded Sustainable Electrification and Renewable Energy Programme. The programme aims at increasing the proportion of renewable energy to over 80 to 90 per cent of the country’s energy sources by 2020, while at the same time significantly increasing also access to energy also in the poorer and remote areas. These are just two examples of topics covered when an NDF delegation led by Managing Director Pasi Hellman visited Nicaragua between 30 January and 2 February 2013. The purpose of the visit was to monitor progress of NDF-funded activities in the country and to meet with the Government, development partners, NGOs and other stakeholders to discuss the future development of the country. “I am happy to see that NDF-financed activities are producing good development results on the ground, being prioritized by the national stakeholders, and well-aligned with other development efforts in the country” says Pasi Hellman, and continues: “Nicaragua remains highly vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters due to geography and limited adaptive capacity.”

NDF’s relationship with Nicaragua began with the approval of first credits in 1992. Since then NDF has approved credits to support Nicaragua’s economic infrastructure worth EUR 20 million & SDR 29.3 million. These projects, whose repayments will continue until 2043, have been related to energy, water, forestry, health, environment and transportation. Under its new climate change focused mandate of 2009, in addition to the above-mentioned NCF project, NDF has approved grant financing to Nicaragua worth EUR 13 million. These projects focus on sustainable electrification, renewable energy, disaster management, and transportation.