Spotlight: 3 Mexican solar projects led by CFE

Mexican authorities and federal power company CFE are leading three photovoltaic solar initiatives in Sonora and Yucatán states and Mexico City. 

The projects are the 1GW Puerto Peñasco solar plant, part of the US$48bn Plan Sonora sustainable energy strategy in the northern state; the 7.5MW Nachi Cocom park that will help power up two electromobility projects in Yucatán; and the 17MW solar roof plant for the capital’s Central de Abasto, Latin America’s largest public market.

Puerto Peñasco

The first stage of the US$1.6bn photovoltaic plant was opened earlier this year and involves 120MW. Construction is underway on the second (300MW) and third (300MW) stages. They are due to start operations next February and in April 2026, respectively. The last stage should conclude in 2028, according to CFE. 

During an event early this month, Sonora’s energy director Rafael Cabanillas said the reason behind the long construction period relates to an interconnection project to link the neighboring state of Baja California. 

The Plan Sonora is aimed at attracting new investments amidst the nearshoring phenomenon. However, its main promoter is governor Alfonso Durazo, who announced on September 13 that his state would launch three fiscal benefits to attract firms to install operations near the solar plant. 

In July, CFE announced that it obtained a US$98.7mn loan from French development agency AFD to continue construction of the plant but it is unclear how the government plans to finance the entire project. 

Also unclear is how CFE has awarded contracts for the project. In April 2022, news site Reporte Índigo reported that the state company was awarding contracts directly without bidding processes, citing as an example an alleged US$300mn contract given to Servicios y Soluciones Electromecánicos (Seselec) to install almost 280,000 panels over a 240ha area. 

President López Obrador opening the first stage of the Puerto Peñasco solar plant in Sonora state.

Nachi Cocom

In April, CFE said in a social media post that the first and second stages of the Nachi Cocom park, comprising 11,000 panels, would start operations in July and December, respectively – even though some contracts have barely been awarded. 

It is meant to power up the 2.8bn-peso (US$164mn) Ie-Tram electric bus corridor that the Yucatán government is planning on opening this year in capital Mérida, while some media outlets have also reported that the renewable plant will help power part of the Maya train route that crosses the state. 

Although the company said on its post that the project would require investment of 9.16mn pesos, procurement records on its own website show that three contracts totaling 221.5mn pesos have been awarded this year and a fourth one is still awaiting offers. 

The first contract, to adapt the installations of the new plant, went to Veraxel on July 27 for 18.8mn pesos; the second was awarded for 65.3mn pesos to firm Morgeta on August 11 to build the cemented-base esplanade where the project will be installed; and the third went was for 137.4mn pesos and was awarded on August 14 to Constructora Yucateca Social to carry out the plant’s engineering design, constriction, installation and start of operations and interconnection.

CFE launched on September 25 a tender to assign the civil and electromechanical construction for the connection of the plant with a 115kv electrical substation. Bids are due on October 13 and the naming of the winner has been scheduled for the 17th, according to contest No. CFE-0900-CSCON-0104-2023. 

Central de Abasto 

Located in the capital's most populated borough, Iztapalapa, the project’s first stage was opened in June by then city mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who was chosen by the governing Morena party to be its presidential candidate in the 2024 election. 

The project is part of the capital's Ciudad Solar program and will require total investment of 500mn pesos, of which 400mn will come from federal funds and the rest from the city’s government, according to the local administration. 

Since 2022, four tenders have been launched and awarded by CFE for the project, procurement records show. 

The first went to Fortius Electromecanica in February 2022 for 25mn pesos to design and construct two photovoltaic systems on the market’s roofs, while the second, for the replacement of the existing waterproofing on roofs where distributed generation photovoltaic systems will be installed, went to Aplicsa for nearly 4mn pesos in March 2022.

The third and fourth, involving the “engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of a power plant with photovoltaic technology on the roofs of the warehouses of the supply plant,” marked the beginning of the first and second project's stages, respectively. 

Stage one went to a consortium led by Solarvatio for 209mn pesos in November 2022, while stage two went to a consortium led by Sun Core for 151mn pesos on July 20 this year. 

The installations’ opening is scheduled for December. 

Mexico City's Central de Abasto in the Iztapalapa borough is said to be Latin America's biggest market.