IV OAS Private Sector Forum
Panama City, Panama - May 31st - June 3rd, 2007
Energy for Development in the Americas: The Role of Public - Private Partnerships

Main experience and qualification related with hydropower potential resources evaluation, hydroelectric projects studies and evaluation, power system planning as well as important contributions in prospecting and evaluation of geothermal energy resources and institutional development in the power sector.

In more than 35 years experience Gonzalo Rico Calderón has acquired power sector planning, project evaluation and management abilities and accomplished projects in generation, transmission and distribution, energy efficiency, fuel substitution and renewable energy solutions for rural areas.

In the contractual and legal field he is familiar with power sector regulations and international project contracting and negotiations, as well as prevention and settlement of disputes. 

Education

M. Sc. Civil Eng., Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, 1972.

Graduate studies in Juridical and Political Sciences, Universidad Mayor de San Simón, Cochabamba, Bolivia; Registered Lawyer in 2001.

Training in hydropower planning, international projects management and human resources management.

Professional History

2000-Present: E+Co representative in South America as independent consultant. Identification of renewable energy projects (hydro, solar, biomass), evaluation of projects and companies for financing and enterprise development services, analysis and evaluation for financing of hydro power in Bolivia, Honduras, Guatemala and Ecuador, Cameroon, training of bank managers and credit officials in hydropower projects, sponsored by USAID, within the FENERCA program in Central America: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Panama.

                        Independent consultant and adviser of power companies in energy, energy projects and power sector regulatory legislation. June 2004 - June 2006 Board member of the Empresa Eléctrica Guaracachi S.A.

1997-2000:      Chairman of the Misicuni Multipurpose Project (120 MW hydro power plant,                           1000 m head, 20 km tunnel, irrigation water and urban water supply)

1993-1997:      Founder and General Manager of Synergia S.A., the first independent power producer of Bolivia (7.6 MW hydropower plant, 1200 m head). Chairman of the Board of and founder of EDECO S.R.L., power and project consultancy company. Since 1996, E+Co representative in South America as independent consultant.

1989-1993:      General Manager of the National Electricity Utility of Bolivia (Empresa Nacional de Electricidad S.A. – ENDE  in Bolivia): Institutional development, planning, international funding, execution of the national electricity plan, expansion of the electricity border in the country, rural electrification, human resources development and international projects.

1979-1989:      Planning Manager of ENDE and simultaneously National Director of the Feasibilty Study of the Laguna Colorada Geothermal Project, in charge of the national electricity planning and long term interaction with other market agents. Part time invited lecturer at the Faculty of Technology of the Universidad Mayor de San Simón, Cochabamba (1982-1989): “Project Preparation and Evaluation”.

1974-1983:      Successively hydro power project engineer, head of the Multipurpose Projects Division, head of the Power Projects Department, and Sakhahuaya Hydropower Project Manager in ENDE. The main activities carried out are the evaluation of hydropower resources, hydropower projects identification and studies (10 to 500 MW) at pre-feasibility and feasibility level and the management of projects under construction.

1972- 1973:     Project engineer at Van Hasselt en de Koning  Ingenieurs en Architecten Bureau (currently Haskoning), in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, in charge of hydrologic, hydraulic and hydropower studies.

Languages

                                    Speaking                    Writing                      Reading

Spanish                        Excellent                       Excellent                       Excellent

English                          Good                           Good                           Good

French                          Good                           Good                           Good

Dutch                           Good                           Good                           Good

Quechua                       Good                           Fair                              Fair

Professional Memberships 

-                     Bolivian society of civil engineers

-                     Bolivian Committee on Large Dams

-                     Bolivian Association of Lawyers

Publications 

·      “Small Hydroelectric Power Winning in Bolivia”, 1977, International Seminar on small Hydro, UNDP.

·      “The Hydropower”, Ministerio de Energía e Hidrocarburos-OLADE, International Seminar for energy communication, La Paz, 1983

·      “Technical and economical basis for the international policy on the Pilcomayo river and Hydraulic harnessing works”, ENDE - 1983.

·      “Optimization of the installed capacity of Hydropower plants, historical recapitulation and methodological proposals”, ENDE - 1984

·      “The power sector planning in Bolivia”, ENDE 1984, Santa Cruz

·      “The development of the non-conventional energy and the National Electricity Utility”, ENDE 1984, Seminar of energy planning, National Senate, La Paz.

·      “Santa Cruz in the year 2000 - The electric energy in the department”, ENDE, 1986

·      “Rural energy development strategies in Bolivia”, 1986

·      “Geothermal development in Bolivia”, 1985, UNDTCD - International Symposium on geothermal energy, Iceland 1987.

·      “The Electric energy in Bolivia”, Lecture in the School of High Level National Studies”, 1988.

·      “Hydro Power Development in Bolivia”, Third International conference on Small Hydro, 1988 (Water Power and Dam Construction International).

·      “Geothermal Feasibility Study of Laguna Colorada - Bolivia”, 1990, International Symposium on Geothermal Energy, Kailua - Kona, Hawaii.

·      “The state owned companies can be efficient - the case of the National Electricity utility of Bolivia”, Latin America Conference on Energy, Enerlac 1993, Santa Fe de Bogota, Colombia.

·      “The structural reforms and the future of the power sector in Bolivia”, Lecture in the School of High Level National Studies, September 1994.

·      “The Andean cultures and their relationship with the geothermal energy according to historical chronicles”, May 1995, Florence, Italy and also in “Stories from a heated earth. Our geothermal heritage”, International Geothermal Association and Geothermal Resources Council, Sacramento-California, 1999.

·      “Misicuni Multipurpose Project - Bolivia” Water Power and Dam Constructions, May 1995, United Kingdom

·      “Financing and organization of the harnessing of small hydropower plants” VII meeting of small hydropower winning, Cajamarca, Perú, July 1997.

·      “Misicuni Multiple Purpose Project - Analysis of the Conditions for the Financial Viability of Private and Public Investment – First Stage”, August 2000.

·      “FENERCA – Financing of Renewable Energy Enterprises in Central America – Financing of Hydropower Plants”, E+Co, August de 2002, co-author.

·      “Hydropower Projects in the Iténez-Mamoré Madera River” In Foreign Policy on Water Resources, Ministry of Foreign Relations and Cult – Bolivia and UNPD, May 2005. La Paz Bolivia.