LaGeo

cancelled

El Salvador established two geothermal power plants in the country: Ahuachapan (95 MW) and Berlin (109.4 MW), which commenced operations in 1975 and 1992, respectively. In 1999, in a move to increase the investment in these geothermal projects, the government established the company LaGeo, and launched an international tender to select an international partner in August 2001. The Italian company Enel won the competitive bidding process and signed a shareholders' agreement in 2002, which allowed Enel to increase its stake in the company by capitalizing investments. The initial participation of Enel in LaGeo was 8,5%. By the time Enel entered in the partnership, the power plants had a total capacity of 131.4 MW. Over the years, Enel's participation in the company increased to 36.3%. Most of the investment was directed to the Berlin power plant. By 2008, the Italian company requested the recognition that its stake in the project was to increase to 53.3%, considering the US$ 127.4 million in investments undertaken since 2002. Enel took the issue to international arbitration which sided with Enel on May 2011. In September 2015, the government decided to buy Enel's stake for US$ 280 million and settled the issue.