Mexico postpones RE auction by a month

The country’s fourth long-term power auction, originally scheduled for November, will now be held on December 18. The preliminary call for the auction was made in March.

November 12, 2018 Emiliano Bellini and Jorge Zarco

The Don José solar plant in Guacanajuato, Mexico.

Image: Enel

One of the most anticipated renewable energy auctions in the world – to be held by Mexico’s National Energy Control Center (CENACE) – has been postponed to mid-December.

Originally scheduled to be held in mid-November, the auction date was changed by Mexico’s Energy Regulatory Commission, CRE and the National Center for Energy Control (CENACE).

The two entities, which published the call for the fourth long-term power auction in March, claim that the postponement was made in order to provide the auction with more visibility.

Through the technology-neutral auction, PV will have to compete with other renewable energy technologies. Selected projects must start delivering power on January 1, 2021.

Mexican auctions are attracting attention on a global scale, since the world’s cheapest solar bid of US$20.57 per MWh was recorded in the third auction of this kind.

According to CENACE, 55% of the auction’s contracted energy and 58.3% of clean energy certificates corresponded to solar energy, while more than 3 million MWh/year with an estimated plant capacity of more than 1,323 MW, were awarded.

In the previous two auctions, which were held in 2016, PV projects with a combined capacity of 3.6 GW were ultimately selected. In both of them, around 1.8 GW of contracts for solar power projects were awarded.

In the first auction, the final average price for solar power was $44.9/MWh, while in the second tender, the average price for PV was $31.7/MWh.

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