Electricity Sector in El Salvador

Electricity Sector In El Salvador

El Salvador is the largest producer of geothermal energy in Central America. Except for hydroelectric generation, which is almost totally owned and operated by the public company CEL (Comisión Hidroeléctrica del Río Lempa), the rest of the generation capacity is in private hands. With demand expected to grow at a rate of 5% in the coming years, the Government’s 2007 National Energy Strategy identified several hydroelectric and geothermal projects as the best option to meet demand in the future and to diversify the country’s energy mix. This would also reduce the dependence on traditional thermal sources and, with that, the vulnerability to high oil prices that the country started to face in 2005. El Salvador is also one of the countries included in the SIEPAC project, which will integrate the electricity network of the country with the rest of the Central American region.