Japanese trading company Sojitz has acquired a 66.7% stake in Alten RE Developments America from its parent company Alten Renewable Energy Developments to operate solar power portfolio in Mexico.

The stake acquisition enables Sojitz to gain access to Alten America’s two operating companies in Mexico, which are planning to construct two solar plants totalling 348MW.

These two solar plants will be constructed by September 2018, in the Mexican state of Aguascalientes. The solar plants will each have a power generating capacity of 180MW and 168MW.

The clean electricity generated from the plants will be sold to a fully-owned subsidiary of Mexico’s state-owned power company, Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), as per a long-term power purchase agreement.

Sojitz has entered into solar power projects in the Latin American region in 2015, starting with Peru and then in 2017 in Chile. With the stake acquisition in the two solar projects in Mexico, Sojitz’s total solar capacity has gone up by about 500MW.

The company stated that it will continue to actively invest in renewable energy projects in Mexico and the rest of the Latin American countries in the coming future.

As per Sojitz, Mexico has a huge potential for solar power, as it boasts better solar radiation coverage in the world, though it does not have as many solar plants in the country.

Last year, the Mexican government opened up it energy sector for private companies. The country expects to leverage the reform to achieve its goal of making renewable energy to contribute  40% to its energy mix by 2035.


Image: Sojitz invests in solar project in Mexico. Photo: Courtesy of RK008/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.