Mirage Energy Corp (MRGE)

[MoneyMike1]

Combined cycle plants being pushed forward, and they will need gas. Valladolid and Mérida are located on the Yucatán, which is devoid of natural gas until our Lerdo and Tecolutla compression stations are built. The Tuxpan plant is also noteworthy because our Cactus-San Fernando gas pipeline runs right through it.

Mexico's CFE races to finish hydro and natgas projects by 2024
Bnamericas
Published: Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Mexico’s federal power company CFE is racing to finish its ambitious portfolio of hydroelectric and natural gas projects before the next presidential elections in 2024.

Projects due to be opened before then include the modernization of 13 hydroelectric units and the construction of three new generators, as well as the operation of six large-scale combined cycle units the company awarded to Siemens and Mitsubishi over the past few months.

However, while all the plants should be opened by mid-2024, this does not mean they will be fully operational by that date. Rather, the largest projects in the portfolio will at least be able to generate some power at less than full capacity, while some of the smallest projects will operate at their nameplate capacity, CFE told the lower house of congress on Tuesday.

The company also said it was on the verge of putting out to tender a series of hydroelectric projects in addition to the refurbishing of nine generators it awarded in late-2021. These are split into three packages.

The first involves installing a new generator at the Amata dam in Sinaloa state. CFE will invest US$35mn to install 10MW of new hydroelectric capacity, and construction is due to be awarded in July. Interested parties include IGSA, Andritz, Hydroproject, ICA, Sinohydro, Prodemex and VLB Ingeniería.

The second package involves the modernization of four small hydroelectric generators, with a tender set to be launched in June. CFE plans to invest US$4mn in Portezuelos 1 and US$2mn in Portezuelos 2 in Puebla state, and US$7mn and US$10mn respectively at the Encanto and Minas projects in Veracruz. All the projects are slated to be completed between December 2023 and May 2024.

The third package involves construction of two new generators at the future Santa María and existing Picacho dams in Sinaloa state. The former is currently in the tendering process and is likely to be awarded to ICA, the same company building the dam itself, CFE said. The project is expected to be fully delivered by the contractor in May 2024, with a total investment of US$98mn.

Meanwhile, Picachos involves the installation of a 6MW generator for investment of US$10mn. The tender will be launched this June and the generator is expected to be delivered in April 2024.

During the presentation, CFE also gave an update of its six flagship combined cycle projects, which it awarded earlier this year to consortiums led by Mitsubishi and Siemens together with local partners.

The Valladolid and Mérida projects, with combined capacity of 1.5GW and led by Mitsubishi, have advanced 11% and 17.6%, respectively, the company said, while the 205MW González Ortega and 680MW San Luis Río Colorado plants, which were awarded to Siemens, are 13% and 12.5% completed. The remaining two Siemens projects, the 1GW Tuxpan and the 327MW Baja California Sur have advanced 12.5% and 10%, respectively.

The company insisted all six projects will be opened before the end of the current presidential term in September 2024. However, no indication was given as to when these units will be fully operational.

All of the above projects are being financed through CFE's master investment fund, the company said, which utilizes the profits from natural gas trading subsidiary CFEnergía and resources from the fibra E financial instrument, which leverages the future profits from payments generators must make to use CFE's vast transmission network.

Part of the financing to overhaul the company’s hydroelectric generation park will also come from deals with export credit agencies, CFE said.

The company is also advancing the construction of 10 projects that were left pending by previous administrations, which total over 4GW of installed capacity and US$2.88bn in investment.

Among these is the 836MW Salamanca combined cycle plant in Guanajuato state, which the company now expects to come online at some point in 2024.

https://www.bnamericas.com/en/features/mexicos-cfe-races-to-finish-hydro-and-natgas-projects-by-2024