France-based independent power producer Engie has bagged rights to develop four renewable projects in Mexico with a combined capacity of 687.8MW.

Engie will develop the projects with an investment of $580m.

The projects were awarded to the French company by Mexico’s National Center for Energy Control (CENACE) during the third Long Term Electricity Auction.

Engie will be developing a wind project named as Tres Mesas 4 which will have a capacity of 100.8MW. It will come up in the state of Tamaulipas.

The three other projects it had won during the auction are all solar plants. In the Chihuahua state, it will develop a 199MW solar project named as Villa Ahumada.

The French firm will develop a 134MW solar plant in Sonora state which is named as Abril. The fourth project is the biggest of all, a 254MW solar project named as Calpulalpan which will be developed in Tlaxcala state.

Engie CEO Isabelle Kocher said: “We are very excited about the results obtained in this auction. We are pleased to contribute to develop the participation of clean energies in Mexico.

“By 2020, ENGIE Mexico will have invested close to 800 million dollars in renewable power generation, with approximately 900 MW of capacity. Our ambition is strong, it is in line with the draw of ENGIE to be a leader of energy revolution".

Mexico’s third Long Term Electricity Auction had placed 15 new renewable energy plants located across eight states for auction. These included nine solar plants, five wind projects and a turbogas project having a combined capacity of 2.56GW, and expected to see an overall investment of $2.4bn.

During the first and second electric auction of 2016, Engie was awarded three renewable energy projects with a combined capacity of 209MW.

The company has invested $215m on the projects which are currently being constructed. These include the 28MW solar plant in Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, the 157MW Trompezon solar farm in Aguas Calientes state and the 51.8MW Tres Mesas wind farm in the northeast part of the country.


Image: Long Term Electricity Auction held by CENACE. Photo: courtesy of Government of Mexico.