ENGIE and Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. have announced plans to invest in Heolios EnTG, a 50/50 joint venture developing renewable energy projects in Mexico.

The new venture builds on a relationship dating back to 1983 between Tokyo Gas and ENGIE. Heolios EnTG will develop, finance, construct, own, operate and maintain six renewable energy projects in Mexico. Two of the plants are onshore wind, while the remaining four are solar PV.

The projects total 898.7 MW, enough to power 1.3 million Mexican households. The joint venture received approval from Mexico’s federal competition commission on March 28.

The projects have also been granted 15-year power purchase agreements through Mexican power auctions. One of the facilities, Tres Mesas 3, is a 50 MW wind power facility that entered into commercial operation in March. The remaining plants are currently in various stages of construction and will start commercial operation in 2019 and 2020.

Pierre Chareyre, ENGIE’s executive vice president in charge of the Latin America business unit, says the new venture will “enable ENGIE to actively support Mexico in achieving its national renewable targets and to decarbonize its energy sources.”

Kunio Nohata, Tokyo Gas’ member of the board, senior managing executive officer and chief executive of the global business division, adds, “This is a landmark achievement for us, as this is the first renewable project joint venture that Tokyo Gas will participate in outside Japan.”