Honduras issues energy storage, cogeneration calls amid sector maelstrom

Honduras’ power regulator CREE has launched international tenders to draft norms related to energy storage and cogeneration.

The watchdog highlights that storage systems would help optimize the dispatch of variable renewable energies within grid security margins and promote equal treatment among electricity producers.

In the case of cogenerators, CREE emphasized that because companies that produce power for self-consumption can sell electricity to the national grid, it is necessary to establish technical requirements to regulate this activity.

Information for the energy storage process is available here and for the cogeneration tender, at this link. Reference terms are also available in the Documents box in the upper right corner.

Renewable energy association AHER has called for the development of the necessary mechanisms to promote investment by solar players in storage systems which, according to the industry group, could generate 100MW in the short term and help with the current crisis.

“In relation to the growing demand, we consider it appropriate and necessary to establish the rate for the sale of surpluses from self-producing users,” AHER added.

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CRISIS

The procurement announcements come as the government grapples with increasing dispatch and generation shortfalls and associated outages, which has led to heightened scrutiny from national industrialists association Andi and construction chamber Chico, among other organizations, and growing discontent among residents.

President Xiomara Castro’s administration, which has pushed for greater state oversight and participation, identified “an inheritance of privatization, corruption and abandonment” as the root cause of the crisis.

Authorities also claimed that higher temperatures due to a more intense El Niño phenomenon have led to short circuits and fires which have affected power lines, along with alleged sabotage.

“To this we must add that, according to [state power company] Enee, for 20 years no investment was made to increase the firm power (maximum capacity) in the generation of energy from power plants and hydroelectric plants,” the government said in a statement.

Local press quoted energy expert Kevin Rodríguez as saying that generation, transmission, and distribution require investments of US$3-3.5bn.

The country’s national dispatch center (CNH) attributes supply issues in part to reduced dispatch from the regional power market (MER) due to forecast lower hydroelectric output because of a high probability of a poor rainy season.

Operator EOR said in a statement, however, that MER “is operating normally and that, to date, there have been no operating limitations or restrictions that affect the import and export of energy among member countries.”

In a bid to mitigate the impact of the current situation, Enee outlined priority actions that include reducing demand by 110MW through savings and energy efficiency campaigns, increasing generation by 282MW, and installing barges with 120MW of firm capacity.

These join a flagship program put in place recently by the state operator to combat energy losses.

Enee also announced the creation of a public-private interinstitutional technical commission to tackle the crisis.

The group includes the energy department, CREE, private enterprise council Cohep, the Cortés trade and industry chamber (CCIC), power producers association AHPEE, Andi and AHER.

Local think tank ASJ wrote in a report that “Honduras continues to be overwhelmed by an electricity subsector dominated by a state company that has not achieved substantive changes and has not responded to the needs of the economy and the population.”

Also read ‘Prominent deficit’ forecast for Honduras power sector

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