The President of Mexico has attended the opening ceremony of Latin-America’s largest utility-scale solar photovoltaic power plant, the 39MWp Aura Solar 1 project in the north-western Mexican state of Baja California Sur.
The $100 million plant was developed by Mexico’s Gauss Energia and international solar company Martifer Solar. Martifer Solar specialises in building ground-mount solar power stations and is ranked the 14th largest utility-scale solar companies in the world.
The Aura Solar 1 consists of 132,000 solar panels installed on ground-mounted structures with single-axis solar trackers, and is estimated to offset 60,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.
According to Gauss Energia, Aura Solar 1 will produce 82 gigawatt hours of clean energy each year, meeting the electricity needs of 164,000 people, or 65 percent of residents in the city of La Paz; which currently relies heavily on supplies of fossil fuels for power.
The project was funded by a local development bank Nafin, along with the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank Group and plant owner, Corporación Aura Solar.
“The conclusion of this PV plant gives us a leading position in the region. We are very proud about the end-result of this project that will provide green energy to many Mexican families,” said Álvaro del Río García, Country Manager of Martifer Solar in Mexico.
Mexico currently generates about 25 percent of its energy using clean energy sources and the country’s renewable energy laws mandate this share rise to 35 percent by the year 2026.
The inauguration of the Aura Solar 1 plant has quadrupled the nation’s installed solar capacity, and all electricity produced will be sold under a 30-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to Mexico’s state-owned utility, Comisión Federal de Electricidad.
“Aura Solar I represents a remarkable platform to develop solar parks in Mexico, and we believe this will be a boost to the new solar industry in the country,” remarked Hector Olea, President and CEO of Gauss Energía.
