First Ever Wind Power Project in Honduras

Context

Honduras is home to over 10 million people, and access to electricity has been growing steadily since the beginning of the millennium when only around 65% of the population were connected to the grid. Now over 92% of the population have access to electricity, in part thanks to increased renewable energy generation over the past 20 years.

The increase in energy consumption is due to a number of factors, including population growth, but also in part due to a shift in the types of industries people are now working in. Historically Honduras relied heavily on agricultural exports for its income, but nowadays this industry is less dominant, with many people now working in the textiles industry. With more energy-intensive industrial processes comes a higher demand for energy, and in fact demand for energy has more than doubled in the last 20 years, meaning that there is great demand for energy from renewable sources.

Project

This project, consisting of 51 2MW wind turbines, generating 345,970MWh of energy every year, which will be put into the National Interconnected System of Honduras. The turbines started producing energy in 2011, with the operational lifetime of the project expected to be at least 20 years. Honduras aims to be producing 60% of its energy from renewable sources by 2022, and this project is playing an important role in reaching that goal.

The project is preventing the emission of 226,978 tonnes of CO2e every year it is operational by replacing energy in the national grid generated from burning fossil fuels with energy from wind power.

In addition, 57,000 trees have been planted over 34 acres around the project site, including 10,000 Quercus purulhana which is a species of oak that is native to Central America, and is classified as vulnerable by the The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

During the construction of the project, almost 500 local people were employed, and now 32 local people are employed full time by the project, providing a stable income for the employees and their families.

Furthermore, access to clean water for around 2,000 local people was improved by the project in 2014 when three water wells were drilled.

Verification

Climate Solution #2

Onshore wind turbines

Onshore wind turbines generate electricity at a utility scale, comparable to power plants. They replace fossil fuels with emissions-free electricity.

Today, 314,000 wind turbines supply nearly 4 percent of global electricity, and it will soon be much more. In 2015, a record 63 gigawatts of wind power were installed around the world.

Onshore wind farms have small footprints, typically using no more than 1 percent of the land they sit on, so grazing, farming, recreation, or conservation can happen simultaneously with power generation. What’s more, it takes one year or less to build a wind farm—quickly producing energy and a return on investment.

From drawdown.org

Photos

UN Sustainable Development Goals

The 'Cerro de Hula Wind Project' project aligns with the following UN Sustainable Development Goals:

Ensure access to water and sanitation for all.
Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy.
Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all.
Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.
Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss.