Mexico City kicks off Ciudad Solar programme with first PV arrays

Mexico City’s solar initiative Ciudad Solar delivered the first results last week as the capital’s officials switched on two photovoltaic (PV) arrays installed atop the buildings of the Secretariat of Economic Development (Sedeco).

The Sedeco rooftops were fitted with PV systems of 47.3 kWp and 45.1 kWp at a cost of MXN 3.5 million (USD 187,000/EUR 169,000) as part of the city-wide almost exclusively solar programme aimed at curbing pollution in the Mexican capital.

The two arrays will generate around 140,000 kWh of clean power, avoid the emission of 75 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) and help Sedeco save up to MXN 600,000 in electricity bills each year, the secretariat said in a statement.

The Ciudad Solar, or Solar City, plan will support the installation of rooftop PV and other clean power schemes that will add up to 350 MW of green capacity in the 2019-2024 period.

Apart from Sedeco, 300 other city government buildings will be covered in PV panels by the end of the programme. Each year, 50 buildings will join, with the investment totalling almost MXN 200 million.

The city is now working to install a PV system of close to 40 MW at the wholesale market Central de Abasto, Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo said in a statement.

The Ciudad Solar initiative will further extend to small and medium enterprises to help them achieve energy savings and recover their investment in less than five years.

When the programme was presented last year in May, the city government said Ciudad Solar would provide for a 4-MW solar project to power all stations in the light rail system, one 3-MW mini-hydropower plant, energy efficiency refurbishments, among others.

(MXN 100 = USD 5.35/EUR 4.84)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!