page_title: Renewable energy in Honduras
section_title: Solar
hierarchical_section_title: Renewable energy in Honduras / Current use and potential / Solar
caption_attribution_description: English: Solar Radiation Map: Global Horizontal Irradiation Map of Honduras, SolarGIS. English version.
context_page_description: In Honduras, there is an important potential of untapped indigenous renewable energy resources. Due to the variability of high oil prices and declining renewable infrastructure costs, such resources could be developed at competitive prices.
  Currently hydropower, solar and biomass are used on a large scale for electricity generation. While the potential of large generation from hydropower and geothermal energy has been studied in detail, the potential for the development of other renewable energy resources is yet to be explored in depth.
context_section_description: According to an IEA-PVPS estimate Honduras generated just over 12% of its total electricity demand from solar power during 2015. This means that in just one year the country has leapfrogged previous rankings to become first in the world for PV power penetration at that time. In 2015, Honduras ranked as the second largest producer of solar electricity in Latin America (behind Chile, but ahead of Mexico). Honduras has a large potential for solar photovoltaic generation. In fact, it is a practical solution for servicing energy-isolated rural communities. In 2007, there were about 5,000 individual Solar Home Systems, with an average size between 30 Wp and 50 Wp, which makes up for a total capacity of approximately 15 to 25 kW of power. The government utility, Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica (ENEE), offered 20-year guaranteed contracts for utility scale solar farms. This resulted in 23 solar farms being approved in 2014 for a total of 609MW and will represent an investment of 1.6 billion US dollars. The ten parks totaling 300MW which came online by July 31, 2015 got a bonus.
  Examples of solar farms:
  144 MW solar park in Nacaome
  61.5 MW Aura II PV Solar Plant
  35.1 MW Choluteca II
  23.3 MW Pacífico
  23.3 MW Choluteca I
  An additional 250 MW of solar power are expected to come online in 2015 including another 50 MW project in Nacaome.
caption: Solar power potential of Honduras
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