With the inauguration on
Wednesday, May 6th, 2015 by the President of Honduras, the largest
solar power project in Latin America and the most efficient worldwide came
online promising rapid relief to a country beset by power outages.
The project is referred to as the
Nacaome and Valle Solar Power Plant since the project consist of two adjacent
sites, “Agua Fría” and “La Llave”, in the Nacaome region of the State of Valle
located in the southern part of Honduras near the Pacific coast about 130
kilometers south of the capital of Tegucigalpa.
The two neighboring sites are part of the same utility-scale project
with a total rated output of 145.9MWp making it not only the largest solar
power plant in Honduras and but also the largest in the whole of Latin America. The solar power plant will produce an average
of approximately 257 GWh per annum and represents 7.1% of all energy generated
in the country.
The project sites were developed
by a group of private investors from Solar Power Sociedad Anónima (SOPOSA) for
the Nacaome site and Compañía de Energía Solar Sociedad Anónima (COHESSA) for
the Valle site, firms founded in 2012 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras and headed by
Napoleón Larach. SOPOSA and COHESSA, wholly-owned subsidiaries
of Inversiones y Representaciones Electromecánicas, S.A. (IRESA), successfully
secured a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (“PPA”) with the state-owned utility
Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica (ENEE).
IRESA is the investment vehicle used by the Larach Group for developing
energy projects in Honduras. The Larach Group has been active in Honduras since
the early 1900’s through local retailer and other business segments, and has
been gradually diversifying into renewable energy. Together with the 58MW La Vegona hydropower
project, the Larach Group now has roughly 205 MW of renewable energy projects in
operation in Honduras. Their renewable
energy portfolio has recently expanded to include a combined total of 215 MW of
hydro and geothermal projects currently under development in the north and west
of the country.
The Nacome and Valle Solar Power
Plant was built at a cost of US$232MM which includes construction of the solar
farm, the interconnection lines, and a substation. Among the institutions providing financing were
the World Bank’s International Finance Group and Finnfund. After completing an Environmental Impact
Study, the expansive power plant was built in just 10 months on 974 acres of
land. The combined facility has over 16
kilometers of perimeter fencing and over 22 kilometers of internal transit
roads. During the construction phase
roughly 2,500 direct and indirect jobs were created. The facility now has about 150 permanent
employees for operation and maintenance.
Over 1 million square meters of
land area are covered with 480,500 CS6X-P 72-polycrystalline cell solar modules
made by Canadian Solar. Rated at Nominal
Max. Power (Pmax) 305 W groups of solar modules are strung to ABB
monitoring junction boxes. These junction
boxes then feed into ABB’s 2 MW PVS800-IS inverter stations, each containing
two 1 MW PVS800 central inverters. There
are a total of 104 inverters (52 PVS800-IS) each with a Maximum input power (PPV,
max) of 2 x 1200 kW, a Nominal AC output power (PAC, N) of 2 x
1000 kW, and a Power Ratioeff of 1.344, so that a total of 0.94MW MW
of PPV is fed into each side of the inverter from the junction
boxes.
To improve efficiency and reduce
transmission losses, each inverter station is also paired with ABB’s 34.5 kV medium
voltage (MV) stations and ring main units (RMU) to ensure the electric balance
of the plant. A 230kV high voltage substation was built on site to receive the
power generated from each of the inverter stations. Interconnection of the project to the grid is
achieved through the interception of an existing 230kV transmission line and the
high voltage substation which was built at the interception point.
The plant’s monitoring and
control is achieved through an ABB automation module containing the Symphony®
Plus SCADA system that monitors and controls plant production and coordinates
output with the requirements and grid codes of the transmission system
operator. It also collects vital plant data to ensure that the plant’s
performance targets are being met.
Together with the latest
technology to maximize energy generation and a distribution system designed to
reduce energy transmissions losses, the project is considered to be the most
efficient solar power plant worldwide.
The solar irradiation at the site is 6 kVh per day per square
meter. This is twice the 3 kVh per day
per square meter of Germany where there are over 38 GW of solar energy
generation. The Nacaome-Valle solar
power plant will generate the entire 145.9MW capacity between 11:00 a.m. and
2:00 p.m. the peak solar irradiation hours.
This solar power plant is part of
a wider effort by ENEE and the Government of Honduras to diversify the
country’s electricity supply and improve the reliability of the power grid. The Government of Honduras has set an
aggressive renewable energy agenda to support the diversification of Honduras'
energy matrix moving away from a fossil fuel based energy generation
model. This will contribute to the
reduction of expensive imports of diesel and bunker, which consequently could
help strengthen public finances. Finally
the renewable energy projects promote a climate change agenda, as these
projects are expected to displace thermal power generation hence reducing
carbon emissions.
With this solar power plant
coming online, the country’s energy matrix is now composed 52.5% from renewable
energy and 47.5% from thermal energy.
This compares favorably to the structure as recently as 2010 which was
70% thermal energy and 30% renewable. The
nation’s energy matrix now consists of 42% primarily private thermal (979.3 MW),
27% primarily state owned hydroelectric (623.7 MW), 7% private biomass (160.3
MW) and 7% from 2 private wind farms (152 MW), and 6% from this new private
solar farm (145.9MW). The installed generation
capacity is now 2.1GW which can supply 89% of the country’s energy demand. The country still must import 11% (264.4MW)
of energy but with new solar, hydro, and geothermal projects coming online
Honduras is expected to not only be self-sufficient, but phase out a significant
portion of the thermal energy generation by the end of 2015.
With a total rated output of
145.9MWp the Nacaome-Valle solar plant can supply 6.3% of the country’s total
2.3GW energy demand, and supply the energy needs of 71,500 homes. With thermal energy projects being phased out
as renewable energy projects come on line, this solar plant will reduce
emissions by 167,300 tons per year and annually save about 167,300 barrels in
fossil fuel purchases which at current market rates represents over US$8MM in
savings per year.
For the 257 GWh per annum
generated by the Nacaome-Valle solar plant the ENEE will pay COHESSA-SOPOSA about
$US0.18 per kWh. The PPA purchase price
is determined by the ENEE’s marginal cost per kWh plus a 10% incentive, and a
US$0.03 bonus per kWh for solar power plants that come online before July 31,
2015.
Watch the video below showcasing the solar power plant.
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