Canadian Solar, a provider of solar PV modules and turn-key solar energy solutions, has started commercial operations at its first Mexican solar power project of 68MWp capacity in January 2019.
Image: Canadian Solar starts operations at Solar Power Project in Mexico. Photo: Courtesy of RK008/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
The solar plant, powered by over 200,000 Canadian Solar high-efficiency poly modules CS6U-P, is located in Aguascalientes, Mexico.
The plant is expected to generate 145GWh of electricity annually, which is adequate to power 20,690 households and sets off 72,700 tons of carbon dioxide emission each year.
Canadian Solar said that it will provide operations and maintenance services to the plant, creating 15 new jobs over a period of 20 years. The construction phase of the solar project is said to have created a total of 535 jobs.
Canadian Solar chairman and CEO Shawn Qu said: “Achieving commercial operations for the Aguascalientes project is a significant milestone for Canadian Solar. This definitely strengthens our position as a leading solar project developer in Mexico and Latin America. Mexico is a very important new market for us where we started solar project development business three years ago.
“We have a remaining pipeline of 368 MWp of solar projects in Mexico with awarded power purchase agreements. Construction of these late-stage projects will soon start and commercial operations will be achieved in 2020.”
In 2016, Canadian Solar had won the Aguascalientes project in the first Long Term Auction in Mexico and the contract included the power purchase agreement (PPA).
Under the agreement, the electricity generated will be sold to Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) under a 15-year PPA for energy and capacity, and 20-year for Clean Energy Certificates.
In December 2018, Canadian Solar closed $69m of non-recourse financing for the Aguascalientes solar power project. The financing package was provided by Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior (Bancomext) and Banco Sabadell.
Bancomext is a Mexican Development Bank and Export Credit Agency and Banco Sabadell is a commercial banking group headquartered in Spain. The financing package included a long-term loan of $53.2m, a letter of credit facility for $5.6m, and a value added tax (VAT) short-term loan of $10.2m.