Portugese company Martifer Solar SA has now commissioned the 30MW Aura Solar 1 solar PV plant in Baja California, Mexico, the construction of which was announced earlier in the year. The plant is the largest to be connected to the grid in Latin America and is the first to secure a power purchase agreement with the public utility, Federal Electricity Commission (CFE). The developer, Gauss Energia of Mexico City, will be selling the electricity at a fluctuating price.
The development of the plant was supported by the Mexican Development Bank and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation. It consists of 132,000 Suntech PV modules mounted on single-axis trackers and will have a production capacity of 82GWh per year, equivalent to the average energy consumption of almost 160,000 inhabitants and offsetting more than 60,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. It is located on a 100-hectare site.
Martifer Solar is a subsidiary of Martifer SGPS and is responsible for the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) services of the plant, as well as operation and maintenance. The company has been involved in the Mexican market since 2011.
“Martifer Solar’s experience and worldwide track-record were decisive during the analysis of the different proposals made by the main companies in the sector” said Hector Olea, CEO of Gauss Energía. “Due to its dimension, this project in Mexico will open the way for the development of the photovoltaic sector in the country, where, to date, were installed 13 MW of PV projects.”
Mexico is expected to have an exponential growth on installed solar capacity during forthcoming years due to the country’s high level of solar irradiation. Mexico also has a target of 35 percent of energy demand met by renewable energy by 2026.
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