SEMARNAT Greenlights Puerto Peñasco Transmission Line

Mexico’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) has conditionally approved the construction of a transmission line for the Puerto Peñasco solar power plant. Puerto Peñasco is part of the government’s Sonora Plan and has been touted as the largest solar park in Latin America with a potential 1GW capacity.

Alejandro Pérez, Director General Environmental Impact and Risk, SEMARNAT, announced that the transmission network linked to Puerto Peñasco is environmentally viable, so authorities authorized the project as long as it can meet the conditions set by the ministry. 

To start building the transmission line, developer CFE must comply with 16 requirements. These conditions include the delivery of an erosion study, a hydrological risk analysis, a program to take care of the ecosystem as well as a project to repel, rescue and relocate fauna, among other measures.

The transmission line in Puerto Peñasco would cost MX$4.7 billion (US$251.3 million). It will move from Puerto Peñasco to the Golfo de Santa Clara electrical substation and then go to Sierra de Cucapah substation. 

According to CFE, the Puerto Peñasco solar plant will be the largest of its kind in Latin America and the eighth largest in the world. It will have an alternating current capacity of 1000MW at standard conditions and a battery storage capacity of 190MW. The plant will be in the municipality of Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, to be constructed on a plot donated by Grupo Vidanta. 

Alfonso Durazo, the Governor of Sonora, recalled that the solar plant will require 2000ha, and 46 percent of the benefits of commercializing its electricity will remain in the state. "The first section of the solar plant is already under construction and the bidding for the second section is coming soon. The second stage will be three times as big as the first one; it will be a real megaproject" said Durazo.

During his Fourth Government Report, President López Obrador highlighted how important the photovoltaic plant of Puerto Peñasco will be to Mexico’s clean energy production. "At the end of this administration, CFE will have increased its installed capacity by about 10,GW with the construction and modernization of 34 projects, the renovation of equipment for 16 hydroelectric plants and the construction of the largest solar energy plant in Latin America, located in Puerto Peñasco," said President López Obrador.