THE MEXICAN SOLAR OPPORTUNITY

Sunny Mexico: An Energy Opportunity; Mexico’s solar resources are among the best in the world, far superior to those of Germany and Spain, the countries currently recognized as the world leaders in installed photovoltaic systems.
Oso Osequera, July 7, 2010 (Greentech Media)

"Experts rank the quality of Mexico's photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal resources among the world's best. In terms of photovoltaic resources, the country has significant advantages:

"Average Global Horizontal Irradiation (GHI) is approximately…the energy equivalent of 50 times Mexico's annual national electricity generation…Just 0.06% of the Mexican national territory would be sufficient to generate the overall electricity consumption of Mexico in 2005…"

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"Mexico's average solar resources for PV…are more than 60% higher than the best solar in Germany…Spain and Germany are the global PV leaders…PV installed in many cities across Northern and Central Mexico has an "energy payback time" (EPBT) [the time for the system to produce the energy needed to make the components] of less than two years…

"Northern Mexico's Direct Normal Insolation is equivalent to the best in the U.S. Southwest and in the North African deserts…[A] square of 25 km in Chihuahua or in the Sonora desert would be sufficient to supply all of Mexico's electricity…Mexico's extraordinary solar resources have largely gone untapped but the solar sector is emerging with a promising future…"

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"Mexico's photovoltaic and solar thermal market potential is 45 GW, approximately 75% of Mexico's 2008 [59.5 GW] electricity generation capacity…Mexico's best solar thermal resources are in the states of Baja California, Sonora and Chihuahua. Baja California has 5 GW of solar thermal generation capacity… Despite the extensive wind development planned for Northern Baja for export to the U.S., there are considerably greater solar thermal resources in the country than wind resources…

"The 'Renewable Energy Development and Financing for Energy Transition Law' (LAERFTE in Mexico) became effective in November 2008…The law's main objective is to regulate the use of renewable energy resources and clean technology and to establish a national strategy and financing instruments to allow Mexico to scale up electricity generation based on renewable resources…Perhaps the largest near-term solar opportunity for Mexican companies is…development and construction of utility-scale solar power plants in Mexico to export electricity to the United States."