Pacifico Solar

completed

The project entails the development of three solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants with aggregate capacity of 78.6 MW in Choluteca municipality, which is located in the southernmost part of Honduras, some 40 km inland from the Pacific Ocean. Construction of the Pacifico I and Choluteca I and II plants is expected to begin in late Q32014 and all have very similar technical characteristics. Pacifico I will have a nominal installed capacity of 23 MWp and is expected to generate 52 GWh per annum. The project will be located on 120 ha of agricultural pasture land in an area with strong irradiation equivalent to 6.0-6.5 kWh/m2/day. The Choluteca I and II projects are very similar to Pacifico I and are located next to each other within 151 ha of modified habitat, also composed of pastures and agricultural land. With an aggregate installed capacity of 58 MWp, these plants are expected to generate 112 GWh per annum. The three projects are located within 5 km of one another and will be interconnected to Santa Lucia - an existing substation located in the outskirts of San Jose de la Landa – via two dedicated 34.5 kV single pole transmission lines. Pacifico I’s transmission line will be 4 kilometers long with right-of-way (RoW) of 15 meters, and Choluteca I and II will share a 7-kilometer transmission line with the same RoW width. Given the peri-urban siting of the Santa Lucia substation, the last 500 meters of the two transmission lines will be buried. The equipment will consist of proven ground mounted photovoltaic crystalline modules and single-axis trackers from SunEdison, and inverters from Bonfiglioli/Ingeteam/SMA or equivalent. Construction is expected to be completed by Q1 2015.