Establishment of the International Power Institute

Building on the two previous trips to Central America last year, International Power Institute (IPI) and its partner Tennessee Valley Infrastructure Group (TVIG) have focused their attention this quarter on project sites in Honduras. TVIG's unit--an Integrated Infrastructure Platform or IIP--combines water and electricity production in a single integrated unit, thereby providing both products at a lower cost than could be attained for each one separately. Because of the unmet demand for clean drinking water and electricity in remote towns throughout the developing world, the need for such units is widespread. Previous visits to Honduras have resulted in strong in-country commercial interest, support in the form of memorandums of understanding by key government agencies, and identification of four prospective project sites for IIP installations. From March 5 to March 15 and with IPI support and participation, representatives from the TVIG, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), IPI, and market research firm International Business Initiatives (IBI) conducted an intensive survey of project opportunities in the four communities, to establish how IIPs might help these four communities enhance their economic development, A key aspect of the projects examined is the need to make them economically self-supporting so that they will be viable in the private sector. Summary of specific project site studies follow here, and feasibility studies for the four sites are included as attachments.