mexico renews itself - ProMéxico
mexico renews itself - ProMéxico
mexico renews itself - ProMéxico
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28 Negocios ProMéxico Negocios ProMéxico 29<br />
Turning Up<br />
the Heat<br />
on America<br />
A leading manufacturer of solar collectors,<br />
Austrian company Kioto Clear Energy has<br />
discovered an excellent business opportunity<br />
under the Mexican sun.<br />
____<br />
by sandra roblágui<br />
photos courtesy of kioto clear energy<br />
Mexico is harnessing the world’s oldest source of energy<br />
in what is turning out to be a hot business venture.<br />
Three years ago, Kioto Clear Energy, a leading<br />
manufacturer of solar collectors, began soaking up<br />
the sun’s rays in El Salto, Jalisco. This industrial city in Western<br />
Mexico is like a second home to Kioto, boasting the company’s only<br />
production line outside its native Austria.<br />
The story of this multinational literally began in Robert<br />
Kanduth’s backyard, in Austria. Kanduth devised and perfected<br />
a system that could absorb the sun’s energy and use it to heat<br />
water. By 1991, his invention was already on the market. Kanduth<br />
named his company Kioto Clear Energy after the Kyoto Protocol,<br />
aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating global<br />
warming.<br />
Just three years later, in 1994, operations were moved to a<br />
modern 900-square-meter factory specializing in the industrial<br />
manufacture of solar collectors. This is where the GREENoneTEC<br />
product line was born, the same brand that would later become the<br />
leading distributor of solar collectors on the European market. By<br />
2008, the company was exporting parts and finished products to<br />
over 40 countries, and had a facility with an annual production<br />
capacity of 150,000 square meters of solar panels.<br />
As the company looked to expand abroad, Mexico was the<br />
number one choice. The ball began to roll in July 2009 with an initial<br />
investment of 4 million euros in a 3,000-square-meter factory<br />
that employs around 50 people in the manufacture of solar collectors<br />
for residential and industrial use.<br />
Why Mexico? There are several reasons. The country is blessed<br />
with sunny weather nearly all year round, which translates into a<br />
steaming hot domestic market for a company that manufactures<br />
solar-powered water heaters, says director of Kioto’s Mexican<br />
operations, Arturo Meléndez Govea.<br />
The company produces 23,000 square meters of solar collectors<br />
a year in Mexico, while 7 out of every 10 square meters manufactured<br />
are exported.<br />
According to Meléndez, “Mexico is strategically located and has<br />
efficient logistical infrastructure that facilitates exports to the US,<br />
Canada and Central and South America. Mexico also has political<br />
stability and workers skilled in trades like soldering, for example,<br />
which our industry demands.”<br />
From its base in Western Mexico, Kioto Clear Energy exports<br />
components to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) throughout<br />
the continent, which are incorporated in the firms’ brands.<br />
The sun has continued to shine on the business, especially in<br />
the US, where the bulk of Kioto’s output ends up. Here, the “heart”<br />
of Kioto’s collectors –a laser-soldered aluminum and copper grille<br />
that offers an unbeatable quality-price ratio– has been welcomed<br />
with open arms.<br />
Kioto doesn’t just make solar panels for Mexico and other<br />
Latin American countries like Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru,<br />
Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, Panama, Uruguay and Paraguay, but<br />
entire systems that include tanks, pumps and valves. “We are<br />
in alliance with the top clients on each market,” says Meléndez<br />
with satisfaction.<br />
Growth in Mexico has been exponential, just as occurred in<br />
Kioto’s native Austria. In addition to its foreign sales, the company<br />
supplies solar water heating systems for a range of private<br />
and public sector entities, allowing them to make substantial<br />
savings while contributing to climate change mitigation efforts.<br />
These systems have a useful life of a decade on paper, but their<br />
real life expectancy is closer to 25 years.<br />
Among Kioto’s government clients are two state penitentiaries,<br />
one in Durango and another in Michoacán, where the<br />
company has installed more than 100 systems –each one with<br />
the capacity to heat up 3,000 liters of water– to heat more than<br />
300,000 liters of water per day.<br />
Another important niche is the housing sector, where Kioto is<br />
working hand in hand with construction firms and the Mexican<br />
From its base in Western Mexico, Kioto<br />
Clear Energy exports components to<br />
OEMs throughout the continent, which are<br />
incorporated in the firms’ brands.<br />
government to promote the incorporation of its environmentallyfriendly<br />
technology in government-subsidized homes. Under the<br />
Green Mortgage (Hipoteca Verde) program, Kioto has contracts for<br />
the installation of 5,000 top quality systems before year-end 2012.<br />
“What you can find in Austria, you can find in Mexico, except<br />
that it is cheaper on the latter,” says Meléndez, adding that any<br />
company that uses hot water in its processes –tequila distilleries,<br />
milk pasteurizing plants, slaughterhouses, agricultural and<br />
pharmaceutical companies, among others– can benefit from the<br />
system. And judging from its expansion strategy for 2013, Kioto<br />
plans to serve them all with clean energy produced with the help<br />
of the Mexican sun. n<br />
www.kioto.com