OREANDA-NEWS. ENGIE has won contracts of 209 MW at very competitive prices for solar and wind energy projects in connection with a new national call for tenders organized by CENACE, Mexico’s National Center for Energy Control. These projects form part of a national policy of the Mexican government, which aims to increase the share of renewables in its energy mix to 25% in 2018 and 60% by 2050.

The future Trompezon solar farm (157 MW) will be built in central Mexico in the State of Aguas Calientes. Project work is scheduled to begin in early 2018 with commissioning in 2019. The future Tres Mesas wind farm (51.8 MW) will be built in the northeast of Mexico where ENGIE is already present as an actor in gas distribution. These contracts are signed for a period of 15 years.

These new successes follow ENGIE’s contract award in April this year for a 28 MW solar energy project in Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. These contracts perfectly reflect ENGIE’s strategy to develop low or not emitting CO2 activities and confirm the Group’s renewable energy drive in Latin America. Since November 2015, ENGIE has won a total of 501.2 MW contracts on the continent. The Group also operates four solar farms in Chile representing a total of 63 MW.

ENGIE in Mexico

ENGIE in Mexico manages a range of energy businesses including electricity generation and cogeneration, natural gas distribution, natural gas transmission and energy services to commercial, industrial and residential customers. The company’s natural gas assets include six natural gas distribution companies that serve more than 430,000 customers and two natural gas transmission companies, which operate over 1,000 km of pipelines serving the Mexican Electricity National Utility (CFE). In power, ENGIE operates two power plants with a total of 311 MW capacity. ENGIE, in a joint venture with PEMEX, is developing the Ramones II South project, a pipeline of 308 km that will strengthen gas infrastructure and gas availability in Mexico.

Through the “Rassembleurs d’Energies” initiative, ENGIE also supports the development of a social enterprise, “Eres Energia Renovable” whose mission is to bring electricity to 600,000 Mexican households that have no access to energy. Operating in 11 States of Mexico, this company offers individual solar systems to communities, schools and dispensaries that are not connected to the electricity grid and has installed over 3,000 systems providing 15,000 beneficiaries with green electricity. Local biogas systems and organic fertilizers are also being developed with another social entrepreneur, Biobolsa, since 2010.