Over 50,000 distributed generation PV projects expected to come online in Mexico this year

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The amount of distributed generation PV systems installed in Mexico could triple this year. According to estimates provided by local solar installer Conermex, over 50,000 systems of this kind could be connected to the Mexican grid in 2017. The company claims that this significant increase will be mainly due to the new regulation for renewable energy power stations smaller than 500 kW.

Furthermore, Conermex has revealed that the recent modifications for solar energy introduced with Mexico’s new energy reform were published in the country’s official journal (Disposiciones Administrativas Generales para la Generación Distribuida).

Conermex' Director General said that the new regulation is “modern, subsidiy-free and very favorable to small-sized PV.” The company expects that this market segment could increase its share in the Mexican electricity mix from 0.3% currently to approximately 5 % in 2020.

Conermex also expects that investments in the DGPV segment could reach $250 million this year and $750 million in 2018.

The new rules for distributed generation include three options for PV: net-metering, net-billing and the sale of all power output.

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Conermex notes that operators of existing DGPV installations, which were connected to the grid before the new rules came into force, could maintain the current contract or modify their status and sign a new contract, complying with the new regulations.

Furthermore, the company explains that the time frame for the connection of the installations has been reduced to 13 days.

At the end of 2015, Mexico had 114 MW of operational distributed generation PV capacity. Conermex believes this capacity has reached around 220 MW at the end of the past year.

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