Central America paves the solar way

Central America is a region composed of countries that have deployed large volumes of renewable energy to date. The nation with the highest portion of solar generation in its electricity mix is Honduras. This nation consists of 8 million people, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $5,000 per capita, and grave social problems. Not only does it get more than 10% of its electricity yearly from solar they continue to install renewable energy. The stereotype of energy transition doesn’t belong to wealthy nations has been proven incorrect.
 

Leading by example

Latin and central america is a laboratory for deployment of renewable energy. Central American nations are applying  different means to procure solar. Developers are also testing various approaches that haven’t been applied elsewhere. Some of these more creative approaches includes auctions, feed-in tariffs, sale of electricity on the spot market, and bilateral negotiation of contracts. Some have achieved some of the highest penetrations of renewable energy deployed to date. With record breaking numbers in central america, how are solar energy being integrated into national and regional grids? How is this possible when some of these grids are geographically isolated and in poor shape? This is an issue for solar since much procurement goes on yearly. These nations are aggressively adding renewable energy, partly because they don’t have power plants. Central America has a very small coal mining industry and has no gas pipelines from outside the region. They have already broken new ground and serves as an example for nations around the world. Central America’s transition to renewable energy has demonstrated that small developing nations can be world leaders.

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