Cubico Sustainable Investments (Cubico), a global investor in renewable energy, backed by two of Canada’s largest pension funds, has announced that it has reached operations on a 600 MW renewable portfolio in Mexico.

The portfolio comprises of the 250 MW Mezquite wind farm in Nuevo León and the 350 MWp Solem solar PV project in Aguascalientes, one of the largest of its kind to reach commercial operations in Latin America.

The energy generated by these projects is sufficient to supply more than 200,000 average households in Mexico and will contribute to avoid more than 800,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions per year.

Osvaldo Rancé, Head of Mexico at Cubico, said: “These projects are honouring all their obligations under the power purchase agreements (PPAs) awarded in Mexico’s second long-term electricity auction in September 2016. The bulk of the of the energy, clean energy certificates and capacity produced by these projects are sold at very competitive prices to the Mexican state-owned utility CFE Basic Supply, the entity responsible for energy supply to the low income housing and agribusiness sectors.”

In addition to this portfolio, Cubico has another two wind projects in Mexico in advanced stages of development with a capacity of 400 MW. These projects maintain legacy status under the former self-supply regulatory framework, which offers the benefit of a fixed wheeling cost and a virtual energy bank. This development portfolio is expected to reach ready-to-build status during the first half of 2020, with construction following immediately and operations starting in 2021.

Osvaldo Rancé, added: “The legacy status provides these projects an intrinsic scarcity value and a competitive edge to secure bilateral corporate PPAs, which has become the name of the game now that the long-term electricity auctions have been temporarily cancelled.”

Ricardo Díaz, Head of Americas at Cubico, commented: “We are very proud of what we have achieved in Mexico so far, having positioned ourselves among the top renewable energy companies and built a strong local platform comprised of highly experienced multidisciplinary professionals. This position will enable us to continue growing in the country, both organically and through opportunistic acquisitions as a long-term investor.”