ACCIONA Energía currently owns and operates 556.5 MW in Mexico, with four wind farms in Oaxaca that account for around 20% of the operational wind power capacity in the country, and has built another 303 MW for customers. The result of the latest auction strengthens the company’s presence in Mexico as one of the main players in the country’s renewables market.

The El Cortijo wind power project, whose production was awarded together with the corresponding Clean Energy Certificates (CEL), will be located 40 kilometers south of the city of Reynosa.  It will consist of fifty-six 3 MW ACCIONA Windpower turbines that will generate  electricity equivalent to the consumption of around 350,000 homes in the area, avoiding  the emission of more than 563,000 metric tons of CO2 to the atmosphere from conventional  coal-fired power stations.

Construction work is planned to start in 2017, with the wind farm being operational by mid-2018. The energy produced will be supplied to the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) under a long-term contract of15 years, according to the company.

This first auction, in which 227 bids were received from 69 tenderers, awarded a total of 5,385.72 GWh to 11 bids from 7 tenderers. It is part of an initiative by the Mexican authorities to integrate renewable energies into the country’s electric power system following an Energy Reform in 2013. Between 2015 and 2018 the Mexican government plans to incorporate 6 GW of renewable origin with an estimated investment of 14 billion US dollars, and the Government’s commitment is to generate around 35% of the nation’s electricity consumption from renewables by 2024, with a forecast 12 GW from wind power and 3 GW from photovoltaic energy.