The Mexican Energy Secretariat (Secretaría de Energía or SENER) has announced an upcoming tender for for a 1,500 MW transmission line project interconnecting for the first time the Baja California peninsula power system (Sistema Eléctrico de Baja California) with the rest of the country's power grid (Sistema Interconectado Nacional). The 500 kV line worth MXN 20,870m (US$1.1bn) would span across 1,400 km between Hermosillo (Sonora) and Mexicali (Baja California).
The high-voltage direct current (HVDC) project is also expected to strengthen Mexican power trade with California (United States) and will allow the construction of 6.2 GW additional gas-fired and renewable projects across Sonora, Sinaloa and Baja California. Baja California itself will add 700 MW of wind capacity, while Sonora plans to build 1,000 MW of solar additional capacity over 2017-2031.
The project is the first Mexican transmission line tender and is expected to come onstream in the first quarter of 2021. The final terms of the current draft document will be published in January 2018.
Do you want to become an expert on renewable energies auctions?
Discover our very detailed and regularly updated RES auctions database with worldwide coverage and a technical focus backed by academic research.
With our renewable energies auctions service you will be able to monitor auctions at a global level. Its (expanding) scope notably includes all major G20 countries and offers an especially fine tracking on Europe and South America.