The plant, called Horus Energy, has the capacity to generate 58 megawatts of electricity and is also the second largest in Latin America, according to a statement from Grupo Onyx, the Guatemalan firm that owns the project.
The president of Guatemala, Otto Pérez Molina, today inaugurated the largest solar power plant in Central America and the Caribbean, with an investment of US$100 million from the Spanish corporation Grupo Ortiz, various sources reported.
The plant, called Horus Energy, has the capacity to generate 58 megawatts of electricity and is also the second largest in Latin America, according to a statement from Grupo Onyx, the Guatemalan firm that owns the project.
The development of the plant was carried out in the municipality of Chiquimulilla, in the department (province) of Santa Rosa, on a 175-hectare site where 187,360 solar modules were installed, making it the largest in the isthmus and in the Caribbean. the same source specified.
The investment for the generator was made by the Spanish corporation Grupo Ortiz, which contributed US$100 million and its “great experience in the construction of renewable energy projects in Europe,” the press release highlighted.
Horus Energy is the first project of the energy division of Grupo Onyx, a firm that is classified as “one of the largest corporations in Guatemala” and that operates industries related to real estate development, mass consumption products and telecommunications.
The production of the plant will represent 1.25% of the energy produced annually in the country and will have an average generation of 115 gigawatts per hour, during the 25-year useful life of the energy factory, according to the owners of the project. .
Pérez Molina highlighted the importance of the inauguration and remarked that “this energy platform makes us the country in Central America that produces the most energy,” according to statements released by the Guatemalan state news agency.
“This year we will have a reduction of between 20 and 25% in electricity bills starting in May, thanks to these projects,” said the president, who faces in 2015 the last of his four years as president.
Pérez Molina also announced that a second phase of the plant, which will end in August, will allow it to increase its production from 55 to 85 megawatts.
The president of Grupo Onyx, Mario López Estrada, stressed that the inauguration of the new plant “changes the history of the energy sector in our country in many ways.”
Horus Energy’s solar modules were mounted “on structures that follow the movement of the sun on its daily path” to “increase production,” the statement concluded.
Guatemala exported energy for US$100 million in 2014, according to information released today by Pérez Molina.