13 January 2015: The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) have announced financing to help SunEdison build the largest solar photovoltaic (PV) development in Central America to date. A total investment of US$146 million will support the construction of 81.7 megawatts (MW) of solar PV in Honduras.

The partnership with SunEdison includes investments of US$19.5 million from CIF’s Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and US$48 million from IFC. The CTF funding represents the first project committed under its Dedicated Private Sector Programs (DPSP). The 81.7 MW to be constructed is nearly triple the estimated installed solar capacity in all of Central America in 2014: less than 30 MW.

The grid-connected installation is expected to ease Honduras’s reliance on oil and diesel-powered electricity, and its climate change mitigation effects are also anticipated to be significant. With a projected 168 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity generated per year, the combined carbon emissions reduction of the project’s three plants is estimated at 70,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) annually. The plants’ construction and operation will also generate jobs in rural areas, according to the IFC.

The project’s promoters hope it will demonstrate the viability of solar PV development in the region. Honduras’s state-owned utility will purchase electricity generated by the three plants being constructed by SunEdison though power-purchase agreements (PPAs). [CIF Press Release] [DPSP Webpage] [SunEdison Press Release]