Energía Eólica secures US Ex-Im Bank loan to expand Honduran Wind Farm

Honduran utility Energía Eólica has secured a $28.6m direct loan from the US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) for the expansion of wind power generation in the country.

The loan will be employed to secure the supply of 12 wind turbines to be employed at the 102MW Cerro de Hula Wind Farm in Santa Ana municipality.

Manufactured by Gamesa Wind US at its Pennsylvania plant, each of the turbines will have a 2MW capacity.

Two hundred workers will assemble the high-tech wind turbines to be exported to the Honduran power company.

Located 22km south of the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, the wind farm currently employs 51 turbine generators and the expansion will increase its capacity to 126MW.

Energía Eólica de Honduras will sell the electricity to Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica, the Central American nation’s utility, to be supplied to the rural areas in Honduras.

Ex-Im Bank chairman and president Fred Hochberg said, "With this project, we’ve achieved an impressive win all around: for exporters, for U.S. workers, and for energy consumers in Honduras, because the wind-driven generators cost less to operate than their equivalent in fossil-fueled equipment."

The Cerro de Hula Wind Farm currently generates about 6% of the electrical power in Honduras.

Gamesa North American chairman David Flitterman stated, "While the U.S. wind industry slowly is recovering after late renewal of the U.S. Production Tax Credit in January, thanks to Ex-Im Bank these export projects are creating new business opportunities in emerging markets, and are supporting good-paying jobs throughout the entire supply chain."