Key amongst Solar City projects will be a 25MW solar car park at Central de Abastos (Credit: Flickr / Matthew Rutledge) PV car parks, solar heaters and distributed generation are set to become more of a fixture in Mexico City under a new scheme, unveiled over the weekend. The ‘Solar City’ programme launched by governor Claudia Sheinbaum will seek over the next five years to install 350MW of PV in the 8.9-million inhabitant megacity, one of the world’s largest. Together with fellow development financiers IADB and NAFIN, the World Bank will fund most of the MXN7.929 billion (US$415.2 million) programme, while Mexico City will contribute a small share. Between 2019 and 2024, the pot will support the roll-out of 150MW of PV projects of 500kWp or more. Chief amongst them will be a 25MW car park rooftop at 810-acre market Central de Abastos and a 4MW, full PV reconversion of Mexico City’s light railway. This will come alongside a 200MW push for projects under the 500kWp threshold. This second group includes solar heaters across 153,000-plus homes and businesses, ~40kWP systems for government buildings and a PV-powered electrification of the city’s maize mills, hotels and dry cleaners, among others. “We’re talking here of a very ambitious goal: slashing Mexico City’s CO2 emissions by around two million tonnes,” said city governor Sheinbaum, a former environmental engineer and IPCC author elected to her post last July. Her promotion of solar comes as policies from Mexico president Andrés Manuel López Obrador – who like Sheinbaum hails from left-wing party MORENA – cast a pall over the nation-wide industry. Large-scale developed buoyed by energy market reforms from López Obrador’s predecessors have faced obstacles under the new administration, including the postponement of auctions and a potential tearing-up of PPAs signed years ago with state utility CFE. Tags: mexico, america, latin america, central america, solar policy, policy and regulation, world bank, iadb, nafin
Mexico City has launched a Solar City programme to install 350 MW of solar generation within the next five years. The project is part of Mexico’s ambitious plan for renewable energy and will be built on land that was previously used as an airport runway. The programme will support the installation of projects including a 25 MW car park project, a 4 MW reconversion of the city's light railway, along with smaller projects, such as solar heaters for homes and businesses, and solar-powered electricity at hotels and businesses.