San Antonio, Texas. – The Board of Directors of the North American Development Bank (NADB) has approved a loan for up to US$100 million for the design, construction and start-up of the Akin Solar Energy Project located in the municipality of Pitiquito, Sonora.
“ENGIE’s new solar park will help increase power generation capacity using renewable sources while also contributing to the fulfillment of the greenhouse reduction targets set by Mexico,” stated NADB Managing Director Calixto Mateos-Hanel. “We congratulate ENGIE Group and the Government of Sonora for promoting the construction of sustainable infrastructure to accelerate the use of clean energy in benefit of the residents of Sonora and of the country as a whole.”
The 100-MWAC solar park includes the installation of 390,000 photovoltaic solar panels mounted on single-axis tracking arrays and the construction of a substation to collect the energy through underground cables. Upon completion, the plant is expected to generate approximately 315 gigawatt-hours (GWh) during its first year of operation, equivalent to the annual consumption of 42,844 households.
All of the electricity produced will be purchased by a company in the steel industry pursuant to a long-term power purchase agreement and, once that agreement expires, it will be sold on the Mexican Wholesale Power Market. The solar park will help prevent the emission of approximately 144,843 metric tons/year of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases.
This project will be the fourth solar park that NADB has supported in the state of Sonora, for a combined generation capacity of 664.7 MW. Altogether, NADB has developed 19 solar energy projects along the U.S.-Mexico border.
###
NADB is a financial institution established and capitalized in equal parts by the United States and Mexico for the purpose of financing environmental infrastructure projects along their common border. As a pioneer institution in its field, the Bank is working to develop environmentally and financially sustainable projects with broad community support in a framework of close cooperation and coordination between Mexico and the United States.