Total Eren announces first wind project in Honduras

On 14 February 2023, Total Eren agreed on the new terms and conditions of the 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) entered into between the Honduran national electricity company, Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica (ENEE), and the project SPV, San Marcos Wind Energy. Through the agreement, ENEE will benefit from the lowest tariff for the sale of electricity from renewable sources in the coun-try. Total Eren had signed a purchase agreement in March 2022 for 100% of San Marcos Wind Energy.

Under the agreement, San Marcos Wind Energy will be responsible for strengthening the country’s transmission grid through:

• The construction of approximately 95 km of 230 kV transmission line starting from the Choluteca Department until the Francisco Morazán Department.
• The construction of a new 230 kV substation.
• Reinforcement works to be carried out in two existing substations.

With a total capacity of 112 MW, the San Marcos wind project will be able to generate approximately 500 GWh a year, enough to provide electricity to approximately 460 000 people in Honduras while avoiding the emission of 390 000 tpy of carbon dioxide.

With this project, Total Eren is establishing long-term presence in the renewable energy market in Honduras and continuing its growth drive in Central America, where most countries are interconnected via the Sistema de Interconexión Eléctrica de los Países de América Central (SIEPAC) grid.

Fabienne Demol, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Business Development of Total Eren, said: “We are delighted to have reached an agreement on this electricity sales contract in Honduras. It is a major step forward in the development of the San Marcos wind project, Total Eren’s first in the country. I would like to thank the national company ENEE for supporting the project, which will provide low-carbon and competitive electricity to the Honduran population. I would also like to thank our teams for their commitment and unfailing involvement. We are excited to begin construction of the project and look forward to pursuing leveraging Total Eren’s expertise as we continue to grow in the Central American market.”

Martin Rocher, Vice President in charge of Total Eren’s activities in the Americas, added: “The San Marcos project responds to the Honduran population’s growing need for electricity while contributing to shifting the energy supply model towards more renewable energy. The investment in strengthening the transmission grid will also improve the resilience of the Honduran electricity grid, which, as seen in recent years, is particularly vulnerable to climatic events. I am looking forward to seeing this project come to fruition.”

For more news and technical articles from the global renewable industry, read the latest issue of Energy Global magazine.

Energy Global's Winter 2022 issue

The Winter 2022 issue of Energy Global hosts an array of technical articles focusing on wind, solar, energy storage, geothermal, and more. This issue also features a regional report on the Australian renewables sector.

Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/wind/17022023/total-eren-announces-first-wind-project-in-honduras/