mexico renews itself - ProMéxico
mexico renews itself - ProMéxico
mexico renews itself - ProMéxico
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30 Negocios ProMéxico Negocios ProMéxico 31<br />
Siliken,<br />
Basking in<br />
the Sun of a<br />
Burgeoning<br />
Business<br />
The Spanish-based multinational Siliken<br />
has found in Mexico a sunny future for its<br />
photovoltaic solar panel business.<br />
____<br />
by sandra roblágui<br />
photo courtesy of siliken<br />
Manufacturers of solar panels are gathering around<br />
Mexico like moths to a flame. Not only does the country<br />
offer competitive manufacturing conditions and<br />
skilled labor for this business sector, but it has high<br />
levels of solar radiation and a communications network that facilitates<br />
distribution on both the domestic and export markets, says<br />
Manuel Vegara Llanes, Director of Business Development in Latin<br />
America for the Spanish-based multinational Siliken.<br />
This explains why the company has opted to expand its production<br />
facility in Tijuana, a city on Mexico’s northwest border with<br />
the US, and is currently working on a large-scale project for the<br />
construction and operation of a solar farm in Durango. Siliken also<br />
plans to manufacture equipment and components for the domestic<br />
and international markets.<br />
Durango Solar is the name of the solar farm that will have an<br />
installed capacity of 100 MW, making it the largest of its kind in<br />
the world and Siliken’s most important project in Mexico, says<br />
Vegara Llanes.<br />
A start-up investment of 70 million usd will get the farm up and<br />
running with an initial capacity of 30 MW, after which two business<br />
areas will be added: a facility for the manufacture of photovoltaic<br />
solar panels in Durango and a solar farm in the municipality<br />
of Canatlán, also in Durango, one of the country’s largest states.<br />
The Durango Solar project enjoys the support of the state government,<br />
which has granted it the use of 303 hectares in the J. Guadalupe<br />
Aguilera cooperative in Canatlán under a gratuitous loan agreement.<br />
Siliken is in no doubt that the farm will be a success and is already<br />
negotiating the sale of the green energy it will generate with<br />
major public and private sector consumers, in addition to long-term<br />
electricity supply agreements with large Mexican corporations.<br />
Durango Solar is a new venture, completely independent of Siliken’s<br />
existing plant in Tijuana, Baja California, which remains the logistical<br />
arm of its component manufacturing operations in America.<br />
This is where the company first began operating in Mexico in<br />
February 2011, with two production lines for the manufacture of<br />
shelter-type photovoltaic modules. Shortly afterwards, three new<br />
production lines were added to meet demand. These five production<br />
lines, which employ about 300 people and are currently working<br />
at their full combined capacity of 100 MW, were installed at a<br />
total cost of 25 million usd.<br />
One of these production lines is specially designed to manufacture<br />
large photovoltaic modules whose increased capacity –above<br />
300 MW– reduces installation costs, since fewer are needed to<br />
generate the same amount of electricity.<br />
In Mexico, Siliken is working closely with agencies like<br />
ProMéxico to attract foreign investment, and has its own sales<br />
team that renders sales and post-sale services to installers of photovoltaic<br />
systems.<br />
According to Vegara Llanes, “Siliken is active in the manufacture<br />
of Mexican-made renewable technologies, the development<br />
of solar farms for the generation of electricity and the distribution<br />
of photovoltaic products.”<br />
Durango Solar is the name<br />
of the solar farm that will<br />
have an installed capacity<br />
of 100 MW, making it the<br />
largest of its kind in the<br />
world and Siliken’s most<br />
important project in Mexico,<br />
says Vegara Llanes.<br />
Just recently, he continues, the company was selected as the<br />
exclusive supplier of 8,700 panels (2.5 MW) for Spanish multinational<br />
Iberdrola’s solar farm in Cerro Prieto, Baja California.<br />
The farm will be run by the Federal Electricity Commission<br />
(CFE), which supplies electricity to most of the country, and will<br />
serve as a benchmark for parallel future projects. “This is the first<br />
time a project of such dimensions has been undertaken in Mexico, so<br />
it will be a learning experience for both us and the CFE,” says Vegara.<br />
Meanwhile, Siliken aims to take an even larger slice of the<br />
Mexican market for photovoltaic products and the development of<br />
large-scale solar systems for the generation and sale of electricity.<br />
In Vegara’s opinion, if Siliken continues to be in orbit, it could<br />
well become the undisputed leader of Mexico’s solar energy sector,<br />
while contributing to the development of a green-jobs industry.<br />
Siliken is already contributing to the country’s sustainable<br />
development alongside the National Workers’ Housing Fund Institute<br />
(INFONAVIT), for which it has developed a photovoltaic<br />
kit at an accessible cost of approximately 750 usd to the final user,<br />
allowing millions of families to save on their electricity bills by<br />
simply installing a solar roof panel.<br />
This is just the beginning of what is shaping up to be a sunny<br />
future for Siliken in a country where it has received a warm welcome,<br />
and where the possibilities are as infinite as the universe,<br />
beyond the solar system. n<br />
www.siliken.com