Zuma Energia’s Parque Eolico Reynosa wind farm in northeastern Mexico has successfully achieved financial close, according to Mott MacDonald, an engineering, management and development consultancy, which provided assistance during the financing stage and will monitor construction and operations in an ongoing role.
Consisting of 123 Vestas wind turbines providing a total capacity of 424 MW, the $600 million project, which can now progress to construction by Acciona, will be Mexico’s largest wind farm to date, says the consultancy. It will provide clean energy to approximately 900,000 people and avoid the emissions of 739,000 metric tons of CO2 annually.
Mott MacDonald’s technical, environmental and social due diligence included reviewing a new wind turbine model without previous operational experience. The consultancy also assisted with the implementation of environmental and social management plans and advised on compliance with relevant standards and regulatory requirements.
“This project is a great achievement for Mexico and will boost renewable energy investments in the country,” says Carlos Riano, Mott MacDonald’s project director. “Our assessments were based on our regional and international experience in similar assignments, including other wind projects in Mexico and Latin America and with our client Zuma Energia. We were able to highlight risks that could potentially affect the project’s progress and offered advice on methods for mitigating these.”
Adrian Katzew, CEO of Zuma Energia, adds, “We are very excited to be working with Mott MacDonald on this ambitious project. We are certain that our teams will work hard to reach our goal of beginning commercial operations by the start of 2019.”
Parque Eolico Reynosa is part of Mexico’s second long-term electric auction. Under its power purchase agreement, it will provide roughly 1.61 million clean energy certificates every year for 20 years.
