Mitsubishi Corp is acquiring a 34% stake in a 400 MW wind power project in Mexico. Wnen completed it will be the largest such power plant in Latin America.
Construction of the Marena Renovables project in the southern state of Oaxaca is slated to begin in March, with the facility becoming operational in July 2013. The project’s overall cost will come to roughly 80 billion yen, with about 70% of this covered by project financing.
Mitsubishi will buy interests in the project from Australian investment bank Macquarie Group Ltd and major Mexican soft drink producer Femsa. Its investment will total some 8 billion yen.
The plan calls for setting up 132 wind turbines over tens of kilometers of an isthmus of the Mexican coast where the array is expected to offer high generation efficiency thanks to the strong wind that blows from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. Electricity generated at the site will be supplied under a 20-year deal to local factories of Femsa and Dutch brewer Heineken Holding NV.
Mexico aims by 2025 to boost its power output capacity about 50% to 90 GW, of which 20 GW would come from renewable energy sources.
