June 14, 2022
Good morning!
Why are we here today?
Did you know that 54% of the rural population in Honduras does not have access to electricity?
Without electricity, there is no access to modern medical services.
There is no light for the children to do their homework.
There are no refrigerators in the houses.
There is also nowhere to store agricultural products before taking them to the market.
In other words, many of the benefits that we take as normal life here in Tegucigalpa or San Pedro Sula do not exist in rural areas.
Well, that’s why we’re here today.
To talk about a possible solution.
Microgrids.
Vice President of the Energy Commission of the National Congress, Honorable Deputy Leonardo Sarmiento.
CREE Commissioner, Engineer Leonardo Deras.
Deputy Secretary of Energy, Tomás Rodriguez.
President of Association of Honduran Municipalities, Nelson Castellanos.
Ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome.
I would like to thank the Department of Commerce’s Business Law Development Program for organizing this workshop.
Honduras has one of the lowest rural electrification rates in Latin America after Nicaragua. Almost 54% of the rural population is still without access to electricity.
Microgrids, powered by renewable energy sources such as wind
or solar, represent a potential solution to address energy problems in Honduras.
Microgrids can increase rural electrification, and accelerate economic growth, across the country.
They also could generate equitable economic growth, enabling communities and businesses to fully participate in trade.
They can also provide resilience against natural disasters or climatic events.
Because microgrids are decentralized, they are not as affected by outages caused by storms, human error, or equipment failure.
The development of microgrids will reinforce the energy security of Honduras.
I sincerely hope that after the workshop, Hondurans from both the public and private sectors will work together to implement microgrids in here.
I thank you again for your participation, and I hope you have a successful and productive workshop.
Thank you.
