Mexico Quickens Shift Towards Renewable Sources of Energy

Jan 23, 2020

Renewable energy is proving to be cheaper and more reliable each day as the technologies behind sustainability continue to improve. Now wind and solar energy plants can receive accurate predictions about how much energy they will create up to eight days in advance of the output for wind and solar energy plants.

Centro Nacional de Control de Energia (CENAC), the national energy operator in Mexico, selected UL to provide these forecasts to better gauge a plant’s overall production. This selection is just one example of the different ways Mexico is shifting more toward renewable sources of energy.

Jorge Ochoa, UL’s business development manager for Mexico, explained the background behind Mexico’s push into the renewable energy market. About five years ago, the Mexican government reformed its energy situation through the Energy Transition Law, which established lean energy generation goals of 35% by 2024; 37.7% to 2030 and 50% of total power generation by 2050.

Dynamic developments

Mexico is known to be a place where there is a lot of sun, providing a large advantage for the use of solar energy. But the sun can’t always shine. That’s why many developers are hybridizing wind and solar.

“They’re alternatives to each other because if you don’t have solar, you might have wind,” Ochoa said. “The combination of the two makes it so you’re always ready.”

Now with Mexico’s plan outlining how the electrical grid will grow for the next 25 years, solar and wind are marked as the highest-ranking options, with combined cycle gas and water following those two.

Next up with renewables is how to store the energy. Fortunately, with larger battery capacities and more reliable predictions toward energy forecasts, relying on renewable energy sources has become easier than ever before. UL even offers services all along the way to help ensure that your renewable energy project is a thundering success, from construction to decommissioning.

And while focusing on the operational performance side of a wind or solar project is important, it is equally important to get the project off to a good start. Knowing the best locations to place solar or wind farms is critical, just as it is to have an expert estimate the amount of energy the project will produce.

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