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Q: How did Grupo México become involved in the country’s energy sector? A: Grupo México got involved for the very first time in the energy sector with the construction of a combined cycle power plant in Sonora. The company began to generate its own energy with a 255MW power plant. During the construction of the first plant Grupo Mexico decided to construct a second plant next to it. Today, we have a combined cycle plant with a total of 500MW. A natural gas pipeline was built to bring the gas in directly from the US to the plant. Fortunately, the project is located close to the border, meaning that a relatively short pipeline of 110km would be enough. Q: How did the company get involved in renewable energy? A: While we were building this power plant, the company goal was to innovate and get involved in renewable energy generation. Clean energy is the future and we wanted to reduce our carbon emissions by supporting our Oaxacan projects with a wind farm. This resulted in the construction of a 74MW wind farm. We also built a small solar system to provide energy to our corporate offices in Hermosillo. It has a capacity of 80KW and it is the first solar system to include heliotrope technology. This means the system follows the sun in two directions. It was an extremely innovative solution at the time, around seven years ago. Soon after,
Gustavo Ortega
the company donated photovoltaic systems to public schools in Sonora and some other places. We are now building a second wind farm in Fenicias, which is located in Nuevo Leon. The farm represents an investment of US$250 million and will have 144MW
Director General of Grupo México Energía
capacity that will be used for our own supply. Q: Where does the company see the best opportunities to generate its own energy?
Self-supply is the Name of the Game for Grupo México
A: I consider that with the changes we have been seeing in the energy regulation and the current uncertainty, identifying opportunities is somewhat limited. Grupo México Energía is still growing but we are focusing on the idea of self-supply. Entering the WEM to sell energy did save us money at the end. However, we would like to see this area more regulated. Currently, our operations continue but they are all under amparos and legal actions. Unfortunately, due to the situation brought on by the pandemic and the regulatory changes, we still have pending matters with CENACE and CRE, whose operations have been affected for several months now. With all the surprises we have faced, uncertainty has taken root in the sector. Q: How has the company been adapting its strategy to the challenging times in the sector? A: We are under the self-supply scheme and, therefore, we mainly consume our energy ourselves. We intend to keep that position. We are not considering to switch to the WEM (Wholesale Electricity Market). We know that other companies in the sector have had success there. Nonetheless, our goal is to be our own energy generator and provider under our own terms. However,
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if there were to be projects in collaboration with CFE, that would allow for some greater clarity regarding investment and we would be inclined to participate. This could be a significantly interesting opportunity in the area of transmission, which requires both new infrastructure and substantial reinforcement.
