Construction Begins on Central America’s Largest Wind Farm

January 26, 2011

Ambassador Llorens participates in the breaking ground ceremony for wind farm.

Tegucigalpa: Ambassador Hugo Llorens joined President Porfirio Lobo, Presidential Designate Maria Antonieta Guillen de Bogran, and representatives from several ministries, municipalities, and energy companies in breaking ground for the Cerro de Hula wind farm at a ceremony in Santa Ana, Francisco Morazan. When completed in 2012, the 102-megawatt wind farm will be the first in Honduras and largest in Central America. The plant will be the fourth-largest individual energy installation in Honduras and will provide an additional six percent to the country's total energy production.

The U.S. government is supporting the wind farm through a $159 million loan from the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) to Mesoamerica Energy, the Costa Rica-based project developer, for the purchase of 51 turbines from Gamesa Wind US's factory in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. The loan is Ex-Im Bank's first renewable energy project in Central America. Iberdrola Ingenieria of Mexico is designing and building the turbine foundations, towers, and access roads through a loan from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.