Acciona Energia, Tutu win 478-GWh solar power contract in Mexico

A 50/50 joint venture between Acciona Energia and Tuto Energy has won a contract to supply 478 GWh of solar power per year in Mexico’s second long-term energy auction.

Acciona Energia confirmed this on Thursday, saying that the deal allows for the construction of its first solar power facility in the country -- the Puerto Libertad photovoltaic (PV) plant in Sonora state, which will have a nominal capacity of 180 MW, or 227 MWp.

The solar park is expected to enter the construction phase in late 2017 and be completed in early 2019. It will sell its output along with the clean energy certificates (CELs) to the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) for 15 years and 20 years, respectively. The contracts should be signed by the end of January.

In this second auction in Mexico for the year, the National Energy Control Center (CENACE) awarded contracts for a total of 8,909 GWh to 23 parties. Of that, 54% corresponds to solar and 43% to wind power. The average bidding price was 44.2% below the maximum price set by CFE.

In the first auction for 2016, Acciona Energia won a 585.7-GWh contract that will result in the construction of a 168-MW wind farm in the state of Tamaulipas.

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