Iberdrola commissions US$ 270 million combined-cycle power plant in Northwest Mexico

8 December, 2017

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Mexico’s state-owned utility company Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) inaugurated in recent days the new 314-megawatt (MW) combined-cycle power plant Baja California III, built by the Spanish energy company Iberdrola. This facility will provide enough power to the state of Baja California, which until the entry into operation of this plant imported electricity from the United States.

The ceremony was attended by the general director of the CFE, Jaime Hernandez, and the governor of Baja California, Francisco Vega de Lamadrid, together with the directors of the energy company.

Iberdrola Mexico invested some US$ 270 million in the construction of this plant that began commercial operations a few months ago with a capacity of 314 MW, of which 294 MW are supplied to the CFE and the remaining 20 are sold in the wholesale electricity market.

Located in the city of Ensenada, in the northwest of the country, the plant aims to cover the power demand of the state of Baja California that before the operation of this plant had to import electricity from the United States. Now, on the contrary, part of the generated energy will be exported to California.

Sergio Alcocer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Iberdrola Mexico, assured in the event that the US$ 270 million invested in the Baja California III Combined Cycle Power Plant are an example of Iberdrola's long-term commitment to Mexico, where it has an installed capacity of 6,000 MW in 15 combined cycle, cogeneration and renewable power plants and has ten other projects currently under construction.

In December 2013, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) awarded Iberdrola Mexico a 25-year contract for the construction, development, ownership, operation and maintenance of this power plant, as well as the facilities needed to connect the plant to the country's power grid.

This Baja California III plant has a generation module composed of a gas turbine, a steam turbine and a heat recovery unit with three pressure levels.

Iberdrola Mexico has invested more than US$ 5 billion in the country, of which some US$ 3.5 billion have been disbursed in projects initiated after the approval of Mexico’s Energy Reform.

Currently, Iberdrola Mexico has 6,000 MW of capacity in operation and almost 4,000 under construction in four new combined cycle plants, Noreste (Escobedo), Noroeste (Topolobampo II), Topolobampo III and El Carmen, and two cogenerations, San Juan del Río and Altamira.

It also builds four renewable installations of 325 MW of wind power, in the states of Puebla and Guanajuato and of 275 MW of photovoltaic power in those of San Luis de Potosi and Sonora.

MexicoNow

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