Programa de Reforma - Privatization-De-Regulation Project

Work performed by MHI forms one part of a four-part privatization-deregulation project in Panama. Our function is to develop technical standards and guides for the planning, operation and customer service of the generation companies, distribution companies and the transmission company that will come into existence after the privatization and restructuring of the Panama electric utility industry.

The standards and guides for use in Panama are to be developed from existing standards and practices used in Canada, USA, Europe and Latin America. Where there are no existing standards, new standards have to be written. The standards required are: Generation Planning, Transmission Planning, Distribution Planning, Facility Connection, Quality of Service –Technical Aspects, Quality of Service-Commercial Aspects, Metering and Roadway and Public Lighting.

Specifically, MHI provided the services below:

• Determined what standards and regulations were needed and which existed.
• Reviewed standards, guides and practices used in various countries to see if they were applicable to Panama either directly or with modifications.
• Outlined standards/guides to be developed and then drafted for review and comments.
• Developed standards on planning and facility connection from existing standards and international standards, including Manitoba Hydro standards, with many modifications to suit condition in Panama.
• Service quality standards were developed partly from other Latin American standards and IEC standards and partly written from scratch.
• Roadway and Public Lighting standards was adopted and modified from existing ANSI/ IES standards.
• Manitoba Hydro wrote the metering standard using the Industry Canada standards and IEEE standards as reference.