March 2006 New Concrete Power Pole Delivery

The upgrade of electrical service to North American standards is going well. This 3 km section of concrete poles attaches to the 3 phase municipal line on the Salinas Town Main road. We are adding spreaders to the top and changing the wire to 3 phase. The final 5.5 kms to the end of Tamarindo Beach requires new concrete poles, and from there another 1.5 km to Los Suenos Island Resort. Electrical services will be underground -- no unsightly poles, transformers or wires in the development. Only 2 ground based transformers will be required.

Electricity supplied by the power company (Union Fenosa) is called the utility in many countries. Electricity is measured in terms of voltage and current. Using the analogy of water supply, voltage is analogous to pressure, and current is analogous to flow. Voltage is measured in Volts (V). Current is measured in Amperes (A). Power is Voltage multiplied by current, measured in Watts (W) or thousands of watts, kilowatts (kW). One kW is equivalent to 1.34 horsepower.

The individual residences will be offered an battery backup system and a seamless kohler backup generator system.  The power in Nicaragua is a prior for the current government and we should look forward to improved power servicing.

Electricity is distributed as Alternating Current (AC). Whereas a battery has two terminals, one that is always positive (+), and one that is always negative (-), AC changes, or alternates, from positive (+) to negative (-) at a set frequency, usually 50 times a second (50 cycles per second or Hertz or Hz).

At the power company's local distribution transformer, voltage is reduced from 11,000V to either 230V and Neutral (Ground) or to 3 phases, red, yellow and blue, each 230V to neutral. The voltage measured between each pair of phases will then be 400V.

There are still some variations found in different countries, e.g. 220V (380V between phases) and 240V (415V between phases). USA, Canada and some South American countries distribute single phase 110-127 V, i.e. 190-220V between phases.