The Mexican Commission Federal de Electricidad (CFE) has announced the start of the bidding process for 16 gas and electricity infrastructure projects, worth about US$4.9bn. Of this amount, US$1.3bn (27%) will be financed by public funds, while nearly US$3.6bn (73%) will be financed by the private sector. The projects include, among others, four gas pipelines and three new power plants:
- the 15 bcm/year Waha (Texas, US)-San Elizario (Chihuahua) gas pipeline, worth US$495m (private financing) and expected in June 2017
- the 14 bcm/year Waha (Texas, US)-Presidio (Chihuahua) gas pipeline, worth US$450m (private financing) and expected in July 2017
- two new gas pipeline branches, to connect to the transmission network Villa de Reyes (San Luis Potosi) as of December 2015 and Tula (Hidalgo) as of June 2015 (US$62m in private financing)
- the 683 MW Guaymas CCGT power plant in Sonora, worth US$725m (public financing) and expected in July 2017
- the 786 MW Topolobampo-1 CCGT power plant in Sinaloa, worth US$1,084m (private financing) and expected in April 2018
- the 889 MW Noreste CCGT power plant in Nuevo Leon, worth US$473m (private financing) and expected in December 2017
Other projects include the rehabilitation and modernisation of a hydropower plant, three power transmission lines and five electricity distribution grid modernisation projects (construction of 1,270 km of distribution lines in Chihuahua, Coahuila, Distrito Federal, Durango and Mexico State).