The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 in Honduras:

Evidence of the impact on the power system operation

Wilfredo C. Flores
Facultad de Ingeniería y
Arquitectura. Departamento de
Ingeniería en Energía.
Universidad Tecnologica
Centroamericana, UNITEC.
Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 11101
wilfredo.flores@unitec.edu.hn
Pablo Meraz, José Berrios
Facultad de Ingeniería y
Arquitectura. Departamento de
Ingeniería en Energía
Universidad Tecnologica
Centroamericana, UNITEC.
Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 11101
pablo.meraz@unitec.edu.hn
Dalton Melara, Carlos Barahona Wilfredo Sifuentes
Facultad de Ciencias Espaciales Comite de Operación Económica
Universidad Nacional Autonoma del Sistema Interconectado
de Honduras, UNAH. Nacional del Perú, COES
Tegucigalpa, Honduras Lima, Perú
melaradalton@yahoo.com wsifuentes@gmx.net

Abstract—During the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, the

Honduras’s electric power grid operation experienced changes.
In this work, evidence of impact on power generation was found.
Although the eclipse in the country was partial, with only 28.9%
of photosphere’s darkening, operation of the electrical power
system was affected, mainly because of 409 MW photovoltaic
power are installed in the country´s power system. It is
equivalent to approximately 17% of installed generation
capacity. Hence, an over cost due to re dispatch of power
generation during the solar eclipse was found. Due to the results,
it is noted that the coming eclipses will have a greater impact on
the operation of the power system of Honduras and Central
America, due to the increase of non-conventional, solar and wind,
renewable energy in Honduras and the rest of the region.

Keywords—Economic dispatch, photovoltaic dispatch, solar

eclipse. Fig. 1. Solar potential in Central America [1].

The two main characteristics currently driving investment

I. INTRODUCTION
Honduras is located in the middle of Central America, with
a population of approximately 9 million people, the country is
rich in natural resources for energy production, ranging from
hydropower, which is the most abundant, to geothermal
energy, which is currently in its initial development. Figure 1
shows the map of Honduras’s solar potential [1]. Also,
Honduras's power system is electrically connected to Central
America through three interconnections of 230 kV, with a
capacity of 300 MW each [2].
As is seen in fig. 1, due to the main solar resource is located
in the southern part of the country, large photovoltaic power
plants (PVs) investments have been installed in that area.
Installation of these PV power plants in the Honduran
electricity grid has produced a new way of operating the grid.
Hence, during nighttime more than 400 MW are out of the
power system. Also, during cloud-passing events, a large
amount of energy stops flowing into the network, causing the
increase of uncertainty in power grid operation. On the other
hand, the voltage levels of the grid in that zone improved after
the installation of these PV plants, mainly due to the capacity
of PV inverters to supply power reactive [16].
in the Honduran energy sector are the annual population
growth of 2% and the 5% annual growth of electricity demand
[3].
Although nowadays Honduras does not have a long-term
energy policy, the energy sector has undergone major changes
in the last eight years, mainly due to changes in public policies
caused by the 2009 coup d'etat. These changes have led the
sector to rapidly develop investments in renewable energy. The
result of this policy has been the incorporation of more than
400 MW of installed capacity of photovoltaic panels, plus
others that will be added to the power system in the coming
years [4]. Also, the number of concession areas for
hydroelectric energy projects have increased.
Mainly, the changes in the energy sector have been oriented
towards the creation of incentives through regulation, by means
of decrees, such as 70-2007, Law on Promotion of Electricity
Generation with Renewable Resources, and 138-2013, Reform
to Law of Promotion to the Generation of Electric Energy with
Renewable Resources, which specifies the incentives that are
offered in Honduras to the generation of energy with renewable
resources. These incentives include the following [4]:
• Priority of dispatch for renewables.

978-1-5386-5844-4/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE

• Tax exemptions of a different nature, including the import most of the time, but as the wind and PV injection is
of equipment. concentrated in a relatively small area, the high share of non-
conventional renewable energy results in an increase in reserve
• An economic incentive of 10% over the Base Price during demand.
the first 15 years of commercial operation, for all the
renewables and an additional incentive of 0.03 USD / kWh • Non-conventional renewable energy increases the demand
for PVs. for secondary reserves by introducing additional fluctuations
into the system. With the capacities of this kind of technology
The aforementioned incentives have caused not only the installed in 2016, a maximum of 22 MW of additional
installation of PVs in the country, but also that the “Honduran secondary reserve is needed to balance wind energy, and an
Sun” be the most expensive worldwide, since bidding in other additional maximum of 120 MW is needed to balance PV.
countries has reached offers lower than USD 0.18 / kWh,
which is currently paid to some PVs in Honduras. • Wind power plants must have fault capabilities to
stabilize the grid during short-circuit events with strong wind
Despite the above, the country is under recurrent outages energy injection.
due to lack of investments in distribution and transmission.
Although the distribution has been recently granted for a In the same way [2] shows that the Central American
limited time to a private company, with the aim of reducing power grid remains operative in the event of failures of large
losses and improving reliability, investments in new generators. In the case of Honduras, evidence is shown that the
transforming capacity have not been yet done and many power outage of large generators causes important oscillations, but the
transformers are congested and working to its limit, greatly grid remains operational.
reducing the grid reliability [5].
Looking at the previous scenario, Honduras is currently one TABLE I. PV INSTALLED IN HONDURAS
of the Latin American countries with the highest investment in PV power plant Power (MW)
PV, although with minimal investment in the distribution grid. Enerbasa 24
It is for this reason that the analysis of the impact on the share Marcovia 35
of PV in the Honduras's electricity grid has become important, Cohessa 50
considering the variability of PVs and the uncertainty Soposa 50
Mecer 25
associated with this technology.
Llanos del Sur 14
This document is divided as follows: PV plants installed in Los Pollitos 20
Honduras and a summary of their impact on the Honduran Fotersa 20
Cinco estrellas 50
power grid are shown in section II; section III shows data of
Choluteca Uno 20
the power system operation during the solar eclipse; in section Choluteca Dos 30
IV data of the next solar eclipses that will be observed in this Prodersa 50
latitude are shown; finally, section V shows the conclusions. Pacific (Nacaome 1) 21
Total 409
II. PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER PLANTS AND THEIR IMPACT ON
THE ELECTRIC POWER SYSTEM IN HONDURAS Fig. 2 shows the share of each PV power plants in
Honduras is located in a geographical position which favors Honduras for 2016 [4].
the investment in PV projects. In the country, 15 PV power
plants have been installed in only two years. These have
delivered a total of 881 GWh in 2016, approximately 10% of
the total energy generated that year [4]. 409 MW of PV power
is installed in the country's power system, equivalent to 17% of
installed generation capacity. Table I shows the PV plants that
are installed in Honduras.
Also, the Honduras' generation expansion plan establishes
that in the 2015-2019 period a total of 1041.52 MW of non-
conventional renewable energy will be installed, of which
657.52 MW will be PV and 384 MW will be wind. Thus, it is
planned that by 2019 the Honduran generation system will
incorporate 30.86% of non-conventional renewable energy
(18.47% PV and 12.39% wind) [6].
On the other hand, recently have been found the main Fig. 2. Share of each PV power plant in Honduras for 2016 [4]
issues regarding the impact of PV and wind on the electricity
grid in Honduras [4]: As has been shown, the problems related to the share of
non-conventional renewable energy in the Honduran power
• Reserves are sufficient to cover the loss of a large systems have been identified. However, impacts due to solar
generation unit (40 MW or more) and fluctuations in demand eclipses have not been analyzed yet.
 Following, the results of the observation of the
astronomical phenomenon of August 21, 2017, and its effect on
the operation in the electricity grid of Honduras are shown.

III. THE SOLAR ECLIPSE AND THE POWER SYSTEM

OPERATION
Literature on solar eclipses and their relation to terrestrial
phenomena is ample [7-12]. In the same way, and because
many power systems worldwide now have a high participation
of PVs, it has become important to analyze the impact of solar
eclipses on the power grid. It is due to this that system Fig. 3. Average irradiance in southern of Honduras during solar eclipse
operators previously analyze the impact on their networks due (W/m2)
to the passage of solar eclipses [13], with the aim of identifying
risks and solutions to mitigate grid impacts. Also, it has
become necessary to analyze the cost of re dispatch due to the
path of solar eclipses.
From the above and because Honduras is a leading country
in Central America in the installation of PVs, the analysis of
power operation during the passing of a solar eclipse is
necessary.
Following, data of the power operation during the eclipse Fig. 4. Honduras energy demand curve of August 21, 2017
are shown. Towards the end, the economic impact of the
eclipse is shown, due to the re dispatch of power plants in the c) Re dispatch of the generation during the solar eclipse
Honduran power system. On the other hand, fig. 5 shows the power generation curve
of the PV plants for August 21, 2017.
Table II shows data of the eclipse passage through
Honduras. In Honduras the solar eclipse was partial.

TABLE II. DATA OF THE PASSAGE OF THE ECLIPSE THROUGH HONDURAS

First contact Maximum Last contact
(Honduras) eclipse

Local Hour 11:43:41 13:03:06 14:15:23

o o
Height of the 87.1 72.5 54.9o
Sun

Magnitude 0.00 0.402 - Fig. 5. PV’s generation curves for August 21, 2017

Darkening 0.0% 28.9% -

source: http://www.heavens-above.com

a) Solar Radiation
During the transit of the eclipse on Honduras, solar
radiation was measured (W/m2). Hence, fig. 3 shows the
average irradiance measured in the area where the PVs are
located (southern area of Honduras).
Fig. 3 shows that when the darkness was maximum due to
the eclipse, at approximately 13:00 hours (see Table II), the
radiation fell to a minimum (145.18 W/m2).
b) Total Demand Curve
Fig. 4 shows the demand curve of August 21, 2017. This is
a characteristic curve of demand in Honduras, with two peaks,
one at 11:52, of 1372 MW, and the other at 19:11, of 1437
MW. It is observed that the demand continued its usual path
during the astronomical event.
Fig. 6. PV’s generation curves for August 22, 2017
It is observed that during the beginning of the eclipse the
larger plants (50 MW), along with some smaller ones,
decreased their generation. In spite of the above, and with the
fact that demand continued rising, the System Operator had to
increase the generation in other plants available in the electric
power system. With the aim of comparing a typical day, fig. 6
shows the typical behavior of the PVs one day later. Hence,
when comparing both figures, the power not generated by the
PVs due to the eclipse was approximately 310.28 MW.
 Thus, the System Operator chose to increase the generation
of the largest hydroelectric power plant in Honduras (300 MW)
(see Fig. 7.a). The generation of the hydroelectric power plant
was 123.76 MW at 11:00 p.m. and 187.83 MW at 1:00 p.m.,
having an increase of 64.07 MW during the passage of the
eclipse on Honduras.
In the same way, in Fig. 7.b it is observed that during the
eclipse the two wind plants installed in the Honduran power
grid reduced their generation to zero. The authors estimate that
this behavior was due to the fact that in other eclipses a high
variation of wind velocity, as well as variability in its direction
has been observed [14]. Therefore, the System Operator
estimated that, in order to avoid uncertainties associated with
the wind, it was better to stop both wind plants installed in the
Honduran grid.
For the thermal power plants, fig. 7.c shows that ENERSA
and LUFUSSA III increased their generation before the
eclipse.
The change of LUFUSSA III is evident, since it initially
increased 29 MW at 10:00 AM and increased 123.91 MW at
11:00 am, totalling 152.61 MW, power levels that were
maintained during and after the eclipse.
7.a. Generation curves of the state owned hydroelectric power plants for
August 21, 2017.
7.b. Generation curves for wind power plants for August 21, 2017.
On the other hand, the power system’s frequency was
between 60.08 Hz and 59.96 Hz, with which frequency no
showed significant deviations during the solar eclipse.
d) Economic impact due to the re dispatch of the
generation originated by the solar eclipse
In order to determine the economic impact on dispatch of
electricity generation due to the transit of the solar eclipse in
Honduras, a comparison of the generation dispatch without
eclipse and with eclipse, as observed in the previous section,
was performed. To do this, an application was designed in
Algebraic Modeling System, GAMS, with the purpose of
performing the optimal economic dispatch and thus determine
the costs of generation dispatched with eclipse and without
eclipse for a specific day. It is assumed that an optimal
economic dispatch is carried out in the dispatch of power
generation in Honduras.
Fig. 7.c. Generation curves for thermal power plants for August 21, 2017
Economic dispatch was made considering the minimization
of generation costs for each generator of the power system.
Also, losses, demand and restrictions on transmission are
considered in the model.
Thus, the optimization problem is established as follows:
Min Cost = ∑ih (∑igen (aigen*g2igen,ih + bigen*gigen,ih + cigen)) +
Total Deficit * Cost of Deficit (1)
s.t.
0 ≤ gih ≤ Pmax, for each generator i, in hour h (2)
∑h gih ≤ Energyi, for each generator i, in hour h (3)
gn,h = fn,h + dn,h for each generator i, in hour h (4)
|Pi,j,h| ≤ Pmax,l (5)
Equation (1) is the objective function to minimize and
represents the total generation cost which is the sum for each
one of the generators during each hour of generation analysis,
in MW. Coefficients a, b and c are the coefficients of
polynomial generation costs of thermal-generating units [15].
PV and wind power have fixed generation costs.
The constraints are from equations (2) to (5). Equation (2)
limits the generation of each generator i, for each hour, h.
Equation (3) is the plant factor of renewable generators, of
each generator i, for each hour, h.
Equation (4) is interpreted as follows: for each n nodes and
each hour the energy injected to the node due to one or more
generators must be equal to the demand of electricity at the
node, plus the sum of all the powers flowing from that node to
other nodes. Finally, equation (5) establishes that each
transmission line has a limit on the amount of energy that can
flow through it. The optimization is performed considering a
DC power flow.
In order to compare the economic cost of August 21, 2017,
the economic cost of dispatch is also calculated for a similar
day, but without eclipse (August 22, 2017), obtaining the
results of table No. III. For both cases an economic dispatch is
evaluated.
TABLE III. RESULTS OF THE OPTIMIZATION WITH THE DISPATCH MODEL IN
GAMS
Daily economic dispatch with Daily economic dispatch
eclipse without eclipse
August 21, 2107 August 22, 2017
Total daily power generation: Total daily power generation:
24,772.4 MWh 24,772.4 MWh
Marginal cost Average: 99.23 Marginal cost Average: 98.54
$/MWh $/MWh
Total cost of generation Total cost of generation
dispatch: 2,458,100 USD dispatch: 2,441,000 USD
As is shown in the table above, the difference among the
two scenarios is USD 17 100. Therefore, this was the over cost
of the electricity generation in Honduras due to the solar
eclipse of August 21, 2017, according to the optimization
model developed in this work.
IV. UPCOMING ECLIPSES
On October 14, 2023, Central America will experience an
annular solar eclipse. In the same way, on April 8, 2024, the
region will experience a total solar eclipse. The annular solar
eclipse will obscure much of the Sun's photosphere (89.2%
obscuration), so it would be expected that the impact on the
operation of the electric power system will be greater than
during the partial sun eclipse of 2017 (27.8% obscuration).
Therefore, considering that power demand in Honduras grows
5% per year, by 2023 total demand at the peak hour in the
afternoon will be 1853 MW approx. (35% more than in 2017).
In addition, by considering that by 2019 the Honduran
generation system will incorporate a total of 30.86% of non-
conventional renewable energy (18.47% PV and 12.39% wind
energy), it becomes a necessity to consider, mainly in the
medium term, the impact for 2023 due to the annular eclipse.
This high share of PV and wind power will have its effects in
the operation of the network. Also, it is necessary to take into
account that in Central America until now there are no studies
or tools that define how this technology will be handled under
solar eclipses.
Due to its high share of PV, Honduras must be warned due
to future events of this kind, in order to properly coordinate the
operation of the system, thereby avoiding an increase in
generation costs and problems in the national and regional
power grid.
V. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
This work shows the close relationship that now exists
among a solar eclipse and the power grid operation in
Honduras. It has been shown that during the partial solar
eclipse in Honduras it was necessary to redispatch electric
power generation, starting other kind of technological
machines, specifically a PV-hydrothermal redispatch was
carried out. The latter implied reducing the generation of
installed PVs in the country and increasing hydrothermal
generation. The redispatch had its consequences, such as the
increase in the total cost of electric power generation, which
was USD 17 100, according to the results obtained with the
GAMS optimization model presented in this work.
Non-conventional renewable energy is expected to increase
in the near future, so the impact will be greater. It is necessary
for the country to be prepared for future events of this nature.
Regional electrical studies are needed to avoid problems in the
Central American regional transmission power grid, mainly
because the next two eclipses are expected to show their effects
directly on the Central American region.
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