Mexico’s PV capacity reached 460 MW at the end of June

Despite a large amount of PV capacity expected to come online in Mexico, as a result of the energy auctions held by the government over the past years, the country’s installed solar power was still only around 460 MW as of the end of June 2017, according to the report “Reporte de Avance de Energías Limpias”, published by the country’s energy depertment, Secretariat of Energy (Sener).

The report also reveals that in the first half of 2017, the country’s total installed renewable energy generation capacity – 18.7 GW – increased by 6.85%, compared to the same period a year earlier.

This capacity, which represented 25.3% of total generation capacity at the end of last June, comprises 12.6 GW of hydropower, 3.9 GW of wind, 913 MW of geothermal power, 751 Mw of biomass, 460 MW of solar, and 88 MW of biogas.

PV was able to cover just 0.17% of total power production in the first half of last year, with around 273.4 GWh, while its installed capacity represented 0.62% of total generation capacity.

In the 12-month period between June 2016 and June 2017,  newly installed solar capacity was around 190 MW, which represents 70.5% growth. In the same period, wind power grew by 23.4% to 3.9 GW, while hydropower grew by only 0.35%. Meanwhile, solar power production increased 190% year-on-year, from 94.2 GW to 122.7 GW.

The Secretariat of Energy, SENER said it expects that  5.4 GW of cumulative PV power will be reached by the end of 2019, taking into account unspecified new capacity from other solar projects and the assigned capacity in Mexico’s first and second power auction, which was 1.69 GW and 1.85 GW, respectively.

As of the end of December 2016, Mexico’s PV capacity stood at around 389 MW. This means that in the first half of last year, new additions totaled about 71 MW.