Tackling Power Sector Barriers for Green Growth in Honduras

Project Summary:

The project aimed to help Honduras achieve its goals of generating 80 percent renewable energy by 2022. One of the poorest countries in the Latin America and Caribbean region, Honduras hopes to boost its economy, increase global competitiveness, and smooth out dramatic income inequalities, in part, by increasing energy capacity and bringing down the cost of energy. This World Bank KGGTF-funded green growth implementation program aims to identify the primary barriers to economic growth in Honduras’ power sector and design environmentally friendly solutions for overcoming those barriers. The first step is conducting a renewable-energy grid-integration study and a country-level energy-efficiency exploratory assessment that can help bring attention to aging, inefficient, polluting, and expensive power plants, particularly hydrothermal facilities. This research, along with capacity building and knowledge sharing from Korea and other countries, will inform which tools and technologies to include in Honduras’ green growth strategy.

List of Activities:

• Variable Renewable Energy Integration study
• Strategic Energy Efficiency Assessment
• Design of a Green Growth related component to be financed as part of a WBG lending operation in the country
• Capacity building, knowledge sharing and peer-learning

Outcomes:

Output 1:

• Analytical studies on VRE integration and EE assessment

Output 2:

• Report with the design of a green growth related component to the client

Output 3:

• Capacity building, knowledge sharing and peer learning

Outcomes:

The outcome of this project was to contribute to reducing the supply-demand gap in the power sector through green and sustainable measures, displacing the old, inefficient and polluting thermal generation park. The project was structured in two phases, a first phase entailing analytical work which was the support for subsequent investment activities definition and preparation in the second phase. This activities definition fed a WBG lending operation currently under discussion. Capacity building activities increased capacity at GoHN to plan and implement future RE and EE programs.

Collaboration with K-Partners and Others:

• WBG internal partners: the CMU participated in the design of the WBG lending operation and budget for preparatory activities would be expected
• K-Partners: Collaborations with experienced Korean firms in the field of EE and RE were sought to bring state of the art technology and best international experience in these sectors to Honduras
• Other external partners: The GoHN provided in-kind resources, as staff-time from the Ministry of Energy and the Power Utility (ENEE), especially during the second phase of the project