(El Salvador) — Comision Ejecutiva Hidroelectrica del Rio Lempa, El Salvador’s state-owned utility, is planning the nation’s first utility-scale solar and wind projects to diversify its energy mix.

CEL, as the company is known, will auction development rights for a 14.2-megawatt solar farm in 2013 and for a 42- megawatt wind farm the following year, Ramon Moreno, a spokesman for the San Salvador-based utility, said today.

A shortage of new sites for large hydroelectric dams in El Salvador prompted CEL to consider alternative sources of electricity, Moreno said. The country has no large wind or solar projects connected to its power grid now.