Hydraulic Energy In Guatemala

Decree 52-2003 establishes that the electrification of the country is declared a national emergency and that private initiative can participate in it.

49% of Guatemala's electrical energy comes, as a primary source, from water, that is, from hydroelectric plants. A hydroelectric power plant is a set of facilities whose objectives are to use the potential (related to height) and kinetic (related to movement) energy that a river has and transform it into electrical energy.

With the intention of making Guatemala independent from the absolute use of oil and to promote the generation of energy through renewable resources, the hydroelectric sector in Guatemala is strengthened day by day, and it becomes an attractive area for investment.

This has become evident with the increase in the distribution of hydroelectric plants in the national territory. Currently there are nineteen hydroelectric plants operating, of which the Chixoy Power Plant, in San Cristóbal Verapaz, Alta Verapaz, stands out on the Chixoy River, capable of generating 300 megawatts of power; the HidroXacabal Power Plant, in Chajul, Quiché, with 94 megawatts, on the Xacbal River; and the Aguacapaca Power Plant, in Guanagazapa, Escuintla, which generates 90 megawatts, near the María Linda River.

In 2012 six hydroelectric plants are under construction. The main ones are the El Manantial Power Plant in El Palmar, Quetzaltenango, which plans to generate 35 megawatts using the channel of the Ocosito, San Juan and Tres Reyes Chiquito rivers, and the Sulín Power Plant in Purulhá, Baja Verapaz, which will produce 19 megawatts and use the channel of the Sulín, Colorado, Cafetal and Panimá rivers.

Likewise, there are currently a series of studies that seek to establish the viability of establishing other hydroelectric plants in the country. From these studies, the plants that would generate the greatest power are: the Arco plant, in Santa Eulalia, Soloma; Barillas in Huehuetenango with a power of 198 Megawatts, with the Ibal and San Juan rivers; and the Central Renace II, on the Cahabon River, in San Pedro Carchá, Alta Verapaz, with 130 megawatts of power. Most of them orbit around the Northern Transversal Strip.

Hydroelectric plants, considered one of the cleanest forms of energy production, have provoked a national debate due to the lack of consultations or agreements with the communities near the places where they are installed and the conflicts that this has unleashed in places like Santa Cruz Barillas, in Huehuetenango.

The advantages of hydraulic energy are that it is renewable and that it is not polluting. Among the disadvantages is that it is expensive to build its infrastructure, it depends on climatic factors, for projects with large reservoirs it has an environmental impact since valleys can be flooded.

References

García Prado, R. A. (2008). Caracterización energética de Guatemala (Doctoral dissertation, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala).

Viaene, L. (2015). Visiones indígenas sobre el impacto del proyecto de la represa Xalalá a los derechos humanos de los pueblos indígenas en Guatemala. Revista (In) justicias hídricas, resistencias y alternativas en América Latina, 2, 22-27.

https://mem.gob.gt/que-hacemos/area-energetica/energias-renovables/energia-hidraulica/