Mexico's photovoltaic capacity reaches 5.5 GW in March

The electricity sector added 500 new MW to Mexico’s photovoltaic capacity at the end of the first quarter of the year, continuing the positive trend of the previous year.

Mexico’s renewable energy sector is booming, especially in the area of ​​photovoltaics. And, as the…Mexican Solar Energy Association (Asolmex)Mexico’s photovoltaic capacity reached 5.5 GW in March, adding 500 MW of new renewable solar energy capacity to the country’s energy mix. This capacity is distributed across 67 photovoltaic plants in 17 different states.

If we had to highlight the major projects in the Mexican photovoltaic industry last year, one name stands out above the rest: Villa Ahumada. This complex, with a capacity of 150 MW, represented an investment of $145 million and is located in the state of Chihuahua.

On the other hand, according to information from the portalRenewable EnergiesAsolmex claims to have up to 22 different projects, derived from the electricity auctions, in the commercial operation phase that would add up to 3,187 MW, with a total investment of 5 billion dollars.

Beyond large-scale photovoltaic installations, Mexico also boasts 818 MW of photovoltaic energy distributed among 12,660 residential, commercial, and industrial users. This alternative generation source, known as distributed generation or small-scale production, complements the aforementioned system, representing an investment of $8.5 billion and the creation of 64,000 direct and indirect jobs, according to the Mexican association itself.

Mexican photovoltaics, launched in 2019

These favorable figures obtained during March only serve to support the trend towards increasing investment in photovoltaic energy by the North American country.shared with an increasing number of countriesWhile Mexico had only 460 MW of solar energy at the end of the first half of 2017, last year the country increased this type of electricity generation by 62% compared to the previous year, reaching 5 GW.

Asolmex itself states that the country’s photovoltaic potential is far from the currently installed figure, reaching 84 GW of potential capacity and affirming that “in the residential sector alone, up to 70% of its electricity consumption can be supplied through a capacity of 25 GW of solar rooftops that could be reached in the year 2030.”