The consortium made up of Prodiel and Sinohydro, a subsidiary of the PowerChina Group, has been chosen by French company NEOEN, to build El Llano Photovoltaic Plant in Aguascalientes (375 MW). El llano was one of the winners of the 3rd Mexican public renewable energy auction in November 2017, with a contract to sell the electricity produced at less than $19/MWh, it is one of the most competitive solar projects in the world, contributing to the successful performance and independence of the Mexican electricity sector.
Construction is to begin on the project in 2019 and it will start operating in 2020. The scope of the project is full EPC, including the photovoltaic plant, the 400 kV booster substation, a 3 km high voltage line and a switch substation, as well as O & M over the plant’s first 20 years of life.
More than one million solar panels will be installed on its 800 hectares, which will generate a total of 880.5 GWh of energy a year, equivalent to the annual consumption of 441,000 Mexican families. In addition, it is estimated this project will prevent the emission of more than 500,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
“The El Llano photovoltaic plant is further proof that in just five years Prodiel has managed to occupy a leadership position in the engineering and construction of photovoltaic projects in the Latin American market”, said Miguel Somé Dominguez, CEO of Prodiel. “We feel very proud to have PowerChina with us on this project as a strategic ally who shares our commitment to sustainability”.
Gilbert Salvi, Executive Vice President of PowerChina International “Americas”, added that for PowerChina this new plant will consolidate its privileged position in the construction of infrastructures for generating electrical power. He also stated that “as the largest company in China and one of the most important worldwide in this industry, we will offer Mexico a photovoltaic plant which meets high expectations”.
The state of Aguascalientes is a reflection of Mexico’s growth potential in the photovoltaic sector, and the El Llano plant is indicative of the investment being allocated by large global enterprises to developing renewable sources of energy.